Everything Falls Apart
by Just Call Me Ladii-San
Summary: Ichigo, gaining the powers of a soul reaper triggered a chain of events that lead to the beginning of two wars. Trying to put an end to both wars while preventing the collapse of the Soul Society and the destruction of the human world, Ichigo finds himself caught in the middle of opposing ideas. Which side will he choose? Yaoi IchiKei
1. The Shinigami

AN: Due to the recent "purge" of other fanfiction. I will be giving fair warning to all of my readers of what this story will contain.

There is going to be Yaoi, Yuri, and possible Het. There will be language (there is some in this chapter), torture, violence (again in this chapter), gore ( I warn that it might be explicit in later chapters. I will give ample warning). I will also give warnings in future chapters.

Thank You for reading please enjoy the chapter.

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Everything Falls Apart

Chapter 1 - The Shinigami

Chapter 1 Start

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Ichigo scowled deeply when he noticed a vase on the corner of the street overturned. A black vase with small white flowers painted on it lay cracked on the concretes. The white flowers that once lay inside the vase looked as if they were rubbed against the pavement. Parts of the stem were crushed and the water streamed from the stems in a parody of a bleeding corpse. Next to the flowers lay a picture frame of a young girl in a white dress. A toothy smile with dirt smudged face was cracked with glass embedding the rosy red cheeks.

It disgusted him to no end to see people who disrespected the deceased. Ichigo stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants, shaking his head. He leant over and put the vase back in its proper position fixed the flowers and the picture before turning away. He was just about to leave when he heard a couple of kids laughing turning around he saw them down the street riding on skateboards.

One of the boys who had brown hair and was wearing a black hoodie was using the skateboard to grind on the curb of the sidewalk. The other two boys laughed as another vase and frame were knocked over and destroyed. Ichigo knew that they were the reason why he encountered so many upset spirits this month. The level of glee coming from the teens that disturbed the memorials on the block disgusted him. Ichigo clenched his teeth and stalked over to where the skateboarders were doing tricks on the curb of the street.

"Can one of you tell me why that" Ichigo said pointing towards the vase. "Is overturned." Ichigo remained calm the anger he felt didn't leak into the tone of his voice.

The teens looked at each other before laughing out loud. The loudest laugh was coming from a black haired teen with a black hoodie on. The bald head teen, wearing a gray hoodie, stopped laughing. He gave a nod to his friends before walking forward menacingly. Or what he thought was menacing. He looked like he had broken one of his legs. The boy Smirked in triumph when he saw Ichigo take a step back.

"Shut the fuck up, you orange haired punk. You don't know who you are talking to, so I'll let this slide." The street kid had an arrogant tone and it irritated Ichigo that the kid seemed pleased with himself.

"So do me a favor and prance you stupid ass home because I don't have time for dipshits like you." He continued after guffawing loudly at his own words.

The other two, the brown haired one that stood to the left of the leader and the black haired one that stood to the right of the leader, just laughed hysterically along with their friend.

Ichigo scoffed before scowling at the trio. "I don't give a fuck who you are. But don't pretend to be shit when you'll never amount to anything." Ichigo replied in a somewhat bored manner.

Ichigo saw a frown grace the black haired thugs face. The brown haired teen looked as if he were offended by what Ichigo had said and lashed out. He moved forward and whipped out his leg to kick Ichigo in the side but his ankle was caught before the attack connected. Ichigo yawned lightly feigning boredom before taking several steps back. The brown haired boy had to continuously hop in order to avoid his legs being overstretched.

"Junichi! Shunda! What are you doing help me!"

The other two finally came out of their stupor and rushed forward to help their friend. Ichigo took another step back and as the thug hopped forward Ichigo pushed his leg back, causing the brown haired boy to fall to the ground. For good measure Ichigo stomped on the kids ankle hoping to break it to keep the kid from getting back up. He took a step back in time to dodge a punch to the jaw from the bald head teen.

He then quickly brought up the same hand that he used to catch the brown haired kids ankle to block a punch to the side of his head. The black haired teen came up on his other side hoping to catch the orange haired teen unaware but before he could do any damage he received a kick to his stomach which knocked him to the ground. Righting himself then twisting to the side Ichigo grabbed the bald boy by his shoulders and brought his face down to meet his knee. A resounding crunch echoed through the night air before Ichigo let go of the boy.

The leader fell to the ground stunned clutching his bleeding nose before slumping to the side and screaming in pain. The brown haired thug that was the first to fall got up and with a slight limp he ran forward with his fist cocked back, Ichigo sighed softly and raised his leg to slam his foot into the boys face. The force of the kick was enough to send the boy crashing to the ground. The red head teen sneered at the boy before twisting his foot in the thugs face.

Ichigo took a step back from the group and frowned at them whimpering in varying stages of pain on the ground. He walked away slowly, stopping only to mutter a quick apology for the girl in the picture.

He was halfway home when a soft voice called out to him, turning around he was faced by a young child who was around his sisters age with long brown hair and a stained white summer dress on and no shoes. She had bruises and shallow cuts all over her arms and legs but the most notable feature was her right side of her face, which appeared to be caved in. Where her left eye was supposed to be, there was a gaping hole.

"Thank you mister." She said in high pitched voice giggling softly to herself. Her hands wringing themselves in the tattered edges of her dress.

Ichigo stared as she started to float away mumbling a quiet 'Your welcome' which he was sure she heard if her answering giggle was anything to go by.

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The orange haired teen sighed when he reached the door to his house. It was thirty minutes pass his curfew and he really didn't want to be bothered by his dads nonsense. After unlocking the door and pocketing his keys. He closed his eyes as he opened the door. He heard a whooshing noise which signaled him to tilt his head to the side in time to avoid a kick to the face. He completely side stepped his father allowing Isshin to fly out the open door and into the street. Closing the door and locking it behind him, he walked into the living room. The spacious are housed two armchairs a couch a table a bookcase and an entertainment area. Ichigo found his younger sisters Yuzu and Karin sitting on the couch watching a show about Don Kanoji, a man who claimed to be able to see spirits and had the ability to vanquish them.

"Hello Ichigo, you missed dinner but I put some up for you." His sister Yuzu called out happily smiling up at him with wide eyes. Karin just nodded her head in his direction as a greeting.

Yuzu was the youngest of the family, her fraternal twin Karin older by a couple of minutes, loved to do all the cooking and cleaning. Karin was the tomboy who spent her time playing soccer and learning about various sports. The tangerine haired teen wasn't as close to his sisters as when they were younger but he still cared for them and would do anything to protect them.

Frowning slightly Ichigo walked pass his sisters muttering a 'Thank you' to Yuzu and then bidding them goodnight. Walking quickly up the stairs to his room, he went in and closed the door behind him. Throwing his messenger bag onto the floor before slumping onto his bed. A small wave of dust flew from the corner of his room where his bag landed. He frowned and wrinkled his nose in disgust. He hated when his room was filthy. He leaned back and relaxed against his pillows. Huffing he fell asleep while thinking of what he had to clean in his room.

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Ichigo sat up abruptly; the sweat that slicked his forehead ran down the sides of his face and down his neck to the drenched collar of his school shirt. His erratic breathing calmed slowly along with it his heart started to calm. The muscles in his face continued to twitch for a couple of minutes in the darkness of his room. The teen pulled his knees up to his chest as he leaned forward to bury his face in them. The starch fabric of his school pants dug uncomfortably into his skin but he welcomed the pain. It helped slow down the images of his nightmare that continued to dance behind his eyelids. The fear that it brought kept his muscles tense. Even if his heart wasn't beating fast anymore he felt as if adrenaline was running through his body. His chest felt heavy and his head felt strained as a headache developed. He pushed his head further into the rough fabric of his pants to chase away the remnants of his nightmare. He lifted his head and blinked owlishly in the darkness of his room.

This wasn't the first time the orange haired teen found himself awake in the middle of the night. The nightmares occurred too often for his liking but there wasn't much he could do about it, groaning the boy laid back down. His sweat drenched shirt sticking uncomfortably to his skin. He turned his head to look at the clock on his nightstand and saw that the neon green numbers flashing twelve fifteen. Unable to fall back asleep Ichigo sat up and walked across his room to turn on his light.

At the same moment a screech fill the air making his heart thump painfully. Ichigo walked towards the window looking outside he didn't see anything or hear anything else but he knew that whatever made that sound was somewhere in his neighborhood. He went to sit back on the bed and scowled for a moment when he realized it sounded like something from his nightmare but shook it off as a mere coincidence.

When he looked back towards the window he saw a girl standing in the spot he previously vacated. The girl walked further into his room she appeared to be shorter than him dressed in black robes that he vaguely remembered were called shihakushō, attached to the belt of her robes was a standard sized katana. Ichigo scowled at the girl before he called out to her.

"Who are you and what the hell are you doing in here." His voice was gruff, saturated with anger.

When she didn't answer he stood up and walked towards her watching as she mumbled to herself. He called out to her yet again, when he didn't get an answer he kicked her in the back sending her sprawling out on the ground.

The girl turned around to look at Ichigo, there was a somewhat awkward moment of silence between the two.

"You can see me." she sputtered, spittle flying out her mouth in disbelief. She then continued to mumble to herself about him being able to hit her to.

Ichigo wasn't in the mood to deal with a potential murderer so he pulled the girl up and proceeded to throw her out of the window. When that was done he closed said window. The berry haired teen scowled lightly as he continued to do his nightly routine since he had fallen asleep before he had gotten a chance to do so.

When he came back into his room wearing a pair of sweats and a tee he was mildly surprised to see the weird girl from earlier sitting on his bed.

"You know it is very rude to throw people out of the window." the girl growled the words out as if she were angered by his gesture.

Ichigo scoffed and looked at her "As if it isn't rude to bust into people's rooms." Looking at her up and down he continued. "But given the way you are dressed you probably belong in a mental hospital. Tell me where you escaped from and I'll call them to pick you up."

The girl squawked indignantly before abruptly standing up, her arms crossed over her chest like a sulking child. Ichigo eyed her feet, which were currently on his bed, with thinly veiled disdain.

"I am not some sort of psycho, I'm a shinigami." she stated as if that would clear everything up.

Ichigo scowled at the girl before walking forward and grabbing her arm. He yanked her off the bed before he patted off the dirt left by her feet. He sat down and looked over to where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"My name is Kuchiki Rukia, I am a Shinigami sent by the Soul Society to destroy a hollow here in Karakura town." This was all said with an air of authority, however Ichigo wasn't impressed by that his right eye began to twitch in annoyance that the girl was still in his room. He was prepared to yell at her again when a loud wail echoed in his neighborhood. Rukia stood up and ran back towards the window opening it then hopping out.

Ichigo scoffed and stood up going outside himself, although he used the front door like a normal person. He wasn't sure why he was following the strange girl, he just knew he felt compelled to do so.

The night was chilly with constant cool air blowing in his face. He walked down the street slowly keeping an eye out for the short girl. He was surprised to see that Rukia was a few houses down the street fighting some type of monster. The monster was as tall as the streetlight and completely black a stark contrast to the bone white mask that covered its face. The mask had to slits for eyes and diagonal slits for the nose, there were three holes running down each side of the cheek and a purple dot on the forehead of the mask. A set of shiny metallic claws were the only other thing not black on the beast.

He watched as Rukia attacked it with what looked like beams of light before using her sword. The sword was blocked by the monsters right arm. The twang of the metal pierced the silence of their fight. The monster used the claws on its left hand to tear at Rukia's side. When she fell it kicked her with enough force to send her down the street and towards Ichigo. Halfway towards him she landed on the ground but had started to skid across the ground, ripping the material of her outfit.

When she stopped skidding across the ground Ichigo ran over to where Rukia was laying limply on the ground, when Ichigo got close to her he saw sweat matting her hair and rolling down her forehead. Blood was soaking her shihakushō and spilling out onto the streets, her wound had pieces of rock and grime in it. Her skin was clammy and losing its color, it was no longer a healthy shade she was beginning to turn a sickly yellow. Rukia turned towards Ichigo began to speak. Her voice low and raspy as if she couldn't breathe properly. Ichigo was sure that the beast had broken some of her ribs.

"Boy, I need you to defeat it for me." she rasped out slowly her voice sounding scratchy to his ears. A little bit of blood trickled out the side of her mouth staining the asphalt beneath her.

Ichigo glowered for a moment before he made his decision. He stood up and faced the monster before swiftly turning away and walking back towards his house.

"No."

He walked silently back towards his house not even sparing Rukia a backwards glance. The howl of the monster behind him did nothing to change his mind. Even if he could hear it coming closer to where the wounded raven haired girl was collapsed on the ground.

"Wait!" The desperation he heard in her voice made him slow down. It was the wet coughs that followed afterwards that made him stop altogether.

"Please, do it. You can stop this." Ichigo didn't move the pain in her voice doing nothing to convince him. He then continued to walk towards his house not even bothering to stop at her pleads for him to wait.

"Why would I mix myself with your troubles? I have a family at home waiting for me." He said over his shoulder.

"If you leave now, your family will die." Her voice was rough with strain yet it rang loud and clear in his ears. It was silent once again only her heavy breathes punctured the silence. The monster was oddly silent as well.

A brief fluttering flowed through his chest along with it came a nauseating feeling, it was almost as if he were on the verge of throwing up. He turned around and jogged back over to her, a dark expression on his face. He hated being forced into doing things but his family's life was on the line and he couldn't risk it.

"What do you want me to do?" He grit his teeth forcing the words out of his mouth.

Rukia smiled bitterly "Come over here."

Ichigo kneeled in front of Rukia, the sword that was previously abandoned at her side was raised and pointed it towards Ichigo's chest.

"Are you ready?" Not bothering to respond Ichigo grabbed the hilt of the sword firmly. Without waiting any further Rukia pushed the sword into his chest.

The feeling was excruciating.

Ichigo could feel Rukia's power forcing its way into his body. He felt as if he were being burned alive, a fire that began just underneath his skin and spread out scorching his insides. Every cell in his body felt as if they were being ripped out of him. His muscles spasmed spastically each twitch making him want to rip himself apart. He didn't know how long it took but after awhile the feeling of being separated ended and his muscles began to relax.

Opening his eyes Ichigo looked towards the thing that hurt Rukia. It was only a few feet away from them it had been momentarily stunned by the influx of energy that was transferred between Rukia and Ichigo.

Ichigo started shifting into an attack stance when he felt an unfamiliar weight in his hand. He looked down to see that it was a straight sword the only difference was that it was about a foot longer than a standard straight sword and twice as wide.

Unsure what to do he did what came naturally and rushed towards the beast. It lashed out with its left hand to bat him away. Ichigo brought up his sword to block the attack. It was sloppy and he managed to get knocked to the ground. He rolled to the side when the monsters right arm was brought down to claw at him. The attacked missed when he rolled out the way again. Ichigo mentally groaned when he felt various pieces of rubble press into his skin. When the roll was completed he hastily stood up and raised the sword he was able to cut through the right arm of the beast as it was redirecting its claw towards him again.

The monster howled in pain swinging its left arm around blindly knocking over a tree and an electric lime. The lights flickered on the streets for a moment before fading out. The moonlight shone on the monster and Ichigo for a moment everything was quiet once again before the beast began swinging around hoping to knock Ichigo down. Ichigo retreated when he saw the beast begin to flail around he took a couple of leaps back yet made sure they stayed a safe distance away from his house and subsequently Rukia.

He saw that the arm that was cut off began to disintegrate into a black dust-like substance. Acting quickly he ran forward and brought the sword to swipe at the monsters leg. The monster acted in time to stumble backwards and away from the attack. The length of the sword was enough to create a shallow gash on its legs which healed quickly. Ichigo hummed to himself and noted the rapid regeneration the beast had, he realized that if he wanted to end this quickly he needed to deal serious damage to the beast.

Steadying his breath he rushed forwards again and swung the sword up managing to cut the beast leg completely off. He rushed forward again while the monster was off balance and stuck the sword in the monsters side and pulled it up through its chest cutting straight through the hole at the center of it. The beast let out another ear splitting wail before disintegrating into the black dust.

Ichigo leaned forward on his knees to catch his breath while sneering at the fact even in his inexperience the monster was so easy to beat. He walked back over to the downed shinigami when he finally caught his breath when he got there he realized she must have done something to heal herself because she was standing as if she never had any injuries.

"Well done focus your energy back into yourself and you should be able to return to normal." she spoke cheerily while walking forwards to meet him at the sidewalk.

"My name is Kurosaki Ichigo." he muttered. She repeated his name to herself before stepping back.

Ichigo closed his eyes and focused on his task. He felt the energy that consumed him being pulled back into his body, the results weren't instantaneous but it came rather quickly. When he opened them the sword was gone and he was back in his night clothes. He looked around and noticed that the girl wasn't there. Scowling he stalked back into his house.

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Ichigo woke to his dad trying to kick him in the face, throwing his father out his bedroom window Ichigo went to do his morning routine.

After doing his morning routine Ichigo got ready for school, tugging on his gray uniform shirt he grabbed his bag and went down stairs. When he stepped into the kitchen he titled his head to the side to avoid another attack by his father. He brought up his arm to block a punch directed to his face he retaliated by punching his father in the face. Ichigo was satisfied by the sound of his dad's nose breaking. His satisfaction diminished as he watched Isshin fly into a nearby wall, which sported spider web cracks from the force of him hitting it. Isshin slumped onto the ground and then started to cry like a baby while he crawled over to a wall that was dominated by a picture of his late wife Masaki Kurosaki.

Ichigo's face donned a blank expression when he looked at the picture. He never understood why his father had it put up it brought back memories Ichigo constantly had nightmares about. The orange haired teen growled lightly to himself for thinking about the nightmares. His stomach suddenly felt like it was filled with lead as he thought about his mother, everything he tried to forget was brought back by looking at that picture. Disgusted with the sudden direction of his thoughts He walked out the kitchen and to the foyer to put on his shoes, breakfast didn't sound appealing anymore.

"Ichigooooo you need to eat breakfast to remain healthy and strong!" the voice of his father was whiney and it wore on his nerves.

Ichigo huffed and continued to leave the house, what Isshin had to say wasn't important.

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The walk to school was short yet relaxing. The air wasn't as cool as the night before. The sun was high in the sky and even though he didn't feel particularly cheerful he enjoyed the sun warming his skin. When he got to the school he immediately walked into his designated classroom and sat down in his assigned seat located at the back of the room near the window. Ichigo leaned back in his chair and stretched his long legs out in front of him, he tilted his head back to stare out the window for a moment before looking above the chalk board to glance at the clock. He saw that there was at least forty-five minutes before the teacher showed up. His usual scowl, which was ever present on his face, stayed there even when he shifted forward to put his head down on the school desks to take a nap. A nagging feeling in the back of his mind told him he wouldn't like the events that were going to happen throughout the day.

The minutes passed slowly about fifteen minutes before the teacher arrived, Ichigo heard students come into the classroom.

"Ichiiiiiiigoooo!" the drawn out shout of his name was enough to remind Ichigo of his father, even if the voice was different he couldn't help but think of that man.

The teen gave the other a blank look.

Asano Keigo, the one shouting his name, shrank back from his gaze. The brown haired boy scrambled back and hid behind a raven haired boy named Mizuiro. Keigo was shaking in fear from Ichigo's gaze.

"Ichigo you shouldn't be mean to him." Mizuiro said slowly as his attention was directed towards his cell phone.

The orange haired teen just scowled and looked pass them to greet his best friend Chad with a nod of his head. Chad gave him an acknowledging nod before taking his seat next to Ichigo.

Chad and Ichigo hadn't always been friends. It was two years after Chad moved to Karakura town that they met. One day in middle school Ichigo was getting jumped by a group of kids and Chad had jumped in to help Ichigo in his fight. Together they had systematically defeated all of the kids. Afterwards they promised to always have each other's back and from then on they were best friends.

The next couple of people to come in were Inoue Orihime, Arisawa Tatsuki, and Honsho Chizuru, arguing about something he didn't care about. He frowned when Inoue looked back at him with shining eyes and a small blush on her face. The group walked over to them taking their places around Ichigo's and Chad's desks.

"Kurosaki-kun, how was your night." the girl, Inoue stuttered out tripping over the words she asks him almost every day.

"It was fine Inoue-san. How was your night?" he asked without any real interest he only indulged in these mindless pleasantries because she was his friend.

Inoue stuttered a reply before facing Tatsuki, a tomboy who Ichigo grew up with. Tatsuki was a girl of average height with naturally spiky black hair. She was captain of the kendo team and spent the rest of her free time practicing her karate. She and Ichigo use to be close friends but that changed the day he quit Karate classes when he was ten. She remained a loyal friend but they didn't hang out, or talk for that matter, as often as she would have liked.

The other girl, Chizuru was a rather quirky girl two inches shorter than himself with red hair and equally red glasses. She loved to tease Inoue about the size of her chest and any other girl with a large bust. Of course Ichigo knew she didn't really like Inoue she just enjoyed fighting with Tatsuki when she came to Inoue's rescue. Though it was no secret she really did like girls many people believed it was only a joke.

Chizuru was just as close to him as Chad was. The two had met in the fifth grade, a year after the death of his mother. He found a group of girls bullying her and he went to her rescue, though she came to his rescue when she had to beat up the girls because he wouldn't hit them. From that moment on they were the best of friends.

Keigo chose that moment to get everyone's attention.

"Did you hear, we are getting a new student. I heard that it was a girl." the words were spoken quickly as his excitement was rising with the thought of a new girl. Ichigo knew he was only excited because he had a new girl to try to hit on and possibly date.

"Oh I'm excited I can't wait to meet her..." Inoue's said rather loudly jumping up and down while grabbing Tatsuki's arm.

"I hope she's pretty..." Keigo chirped on and on about the body he hoped the girl would have

"No one is prettier than Orihime..." Chizuru's voice made him inwardly chuckle, she always had to include Inoue in something.

The chatter of his friends was drowned out as he turned to look out the window.

'Whoever it is I'm sure I'm not going to like it' he thought to himself.

The bell rang a few minutes later and his teacher, Ochi-sensei, walked in with the new student. A girl who was shorter than the teacher and had jet black hair with a bang that hung in the middle of her face, she was wearing the standard Karakura High girl's uniform. Ichigo's scowl returned with a vengeance at the sight of the girl. His morning was officially shot to hell, he knew Rukia had a reason for still being here and he believed that reason was him.

He sighed softly he prayed the day would go by quickly.

If that didn't happen he prayed someone would kill him.

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Chapter 1 End


	2. Step By Step

Hello everybody welcome to chapter two of Everything Falls Apart. I hoped you enjoyed chapter 1. This chapter title is taken from the lyrics of Tobira written by Uverworld.

This Chapter is dedicated to **duhorcommonsense** for being my first reviewer. Thank you **duhorcommonsense **for being an awesome person.

Also as a bonus for whoever will be the fifth reviewer.

Enjoy!

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Everything Falls Apart

Chapter 2 - Step By Step

Chapter 2 Start

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The day was passing much too slowly for his liking, it was only lunch and he still had two more hours of school left. The strawberry blonde turned his head to look over to his friends from where he sat on the roof. His friends all sat in a circle surrounding Rukia chatting with her introducing themselves to her one at a time.

Ever since she came into the classroom several hours ago she had been glancing at him trying to catch his attention. Finally, after three hours, she had decided to come right out and say she needed to talk to him. He felt no need to go over and speak to her if they were going to talk later.

Ichigo sat against the fence a few feet away from them doing the homework assigned earlier that day so he wouldn't have to do it at home. A cool breeze blew through the air, distracting him from his thoughts. He was glad it was nearing autumn. It was his favorite season and he loved to walk through the park to look at the leaves. It was peaceful for him and sometimes he could just forget all his troubles. It also made him feel a little closer to his mom they use to spend hours in the park simply gazing at the colors.

He sighed to himself before finishing up the rest of his math homework. He put that book away and pulled out the next starting on his English homework, the last thing he had to get done. The bell rang not too long after he finished his English work. He picked up his stuff and followed the rest of the group back to inside. They all headed in the same direction since they had gym together.

Unlike most schools Karakura high didn't have a designated sports uniform. The students only had to wear clothes they were able to play in and a pair of sneakers. The orange haired teen hated gym, it was the only class where several other classrooms were mixed. In it was a group of boys that tormented him during middle school, he had no problems beating them now but when he was younger he got beat up by them quite a few times before he learned to fight back.

Currently the class was playing dodge ball the only sport where the groups of bullies were allowed to attack him. Ichigo grimaced at the thought of playing this game for the second week in a row but there was nothing he could do short of skipping his gym class. He stepped forward and got ready to play.

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"What the fuck do you want?"

The strawberry blonde teen had just reached his house. He was lucky that his father was working in the clinic so he didn't have to deal with his nonsense and his sisters hadn't arrived home yet. He had just gotten to his room and locked the door behind him when he saw Rukia sitting cross-legged on his bed he grimaced when he noticed she still had her shoes on.

Ignoring his previous statement Rukia pulled out a sketchbook. "Since the fight last night my depleted my powers I have decided that you needed to be educated on the things you will be fighting."

Ichigo frowned before moving away from the door to stand in the middle of the room, he scowled at the feet that were still on his bed before speaking.

"What do you mean I only helped you last night because you couldn't defeat the hollow yourself. It was your own fault your powers were depleted, so if you'll kindly get the fuck out you won't have to teach me anything." Ichigo's voice never rose from the bored tone even if he was starting to get annoyed.

Rukia had begun to get irritated with the orange haired teen's indifference so naturally she responded in the only way she knew, she responded with anger.

"I gave you my powers last night so you could stop that thing because of that I have lost almost all of my powers, you have to do my job until my abilities return completely. So shut up and listen to what I have to say." Her voice was laced with anger and her current displeasure with the situation made the atmosphere tense.

Ichigo stared at Rukia emotionlessly, ignoring the irate girls words altogether before moving over to his desk chair, waving his hand towards her to begin speaking he sat down.

Ichigo noticed the little smile she gave herself and rolled his yes. She pulled a sketchbook pulled in front of her face and drew something on it quickly before holding it out for him to see. On the page there was a picture of a bunny on the left side that said 'good spirits' and a bear on the right side that said 'bad spirits'.

"There are two types of souls, Wholes which are the good souls the ones you see everyday" She said while tapping the picture of the bunny and then writing the word Whole. "And Hollows the bad souls, they eat the good souls and souls of the living." She tapped the paper again but this time with the bear and wrote the word hollow. "As a shinigami it is my job to eradicate hollows. Like the one that you fought last night."

Ichigo stared blankly at the little sketchbook before turning towards Rukia, she had a proud look on her face and was skipping wildly before she cleared her throat.

"Do you have any questions?"

Ichigo kept his face blank before asking"Can you leave now?" The boy laughed inwardly when the smile was instantly wiped of Rukia's face.

Standing up on his bed she looked at him with sadistic glee. Ichigo refused to back down so he glared back at her, his normal glare hardened because she was once again standing on his bed. He watched as she raised her hand towards him and then called out 'sai'.

Ichigo's arms, which he was currently leaning forward on, lurched forward and the pulled behind him. They were crossed over each other like someone was restraining him. The whole process lasted less than a couple of seconds but the force was able to knock him out of the chair and onto the floor.

He glared up at her while experimentally twisting his arms. He found that the resistance was weak and if he pulled hard enough he could break out of these invisible bonds. Pulling himself onto his knees he fixed himself enough to sit down on the floor properly in the process of moving he noticed Rukia narrow her eyes at his movement.

He sighed before staring at her. "What did you do?"

She smirked at hem before putting her hands on her hips proudly after several seconds of standing on the bed she plopped onto the down, folding her legs underneath her.

"The technique I used is called Kidō, it's a type of shinigami spell used against enemies. The particular one I used is called sai. It binds the hands behind your back, though usually one cannot move because of the pressure of the bind." She said the last part thoughtfully almost as if she were speaking to herself.

Ichigo frowned before casually pulling his arms apart.

For a moment Rukia stared at him in shock before walking over to him. Ichigo saw that she was putting on a red glove with a skull on it. That was all he was able to see before he was smacked on the forehead with it. The force of it knocked him to the floor with a loud thump.

The teen shook his dizziness away and stood up his hand clenched into fists as he stared angrily at the raven haired girl. He was about to step forward when his foot brushed against something hard. Looking down he saw his body on the ground his face still set in it's usually scowl. He looked back towards Rukia before reaching forward and grabbing her by her shirt and lifting her into the air.

"What did you do?" The words were said calmly but the fierce glare on his face was more than enough for her to know that he wasn't playing around.

Rukia had disbelief written on her face before she swung her knee upward, however the attack didn't connect because in that same second Ichigo dropped Rukia to the floor.

"What the hell is your problem?"

The question went ignored, instead Ichigo walked over to the mirror that was placed on the back of his door. In the mirror he saw that he was wearing an outfit like the one Rukia had worn last night. The strange sword was strapped to his back by a large black ribbon since it seemed to be too long to hang comfortably off of his side.

Rukia got off the floor and went to sit back on Ichigo's bed. She tapped her fingers impatiently on her leg waiting for him to be done. When he continued to stare into the mirror minutes later she finally called his name. Ichigo turned to stare at her before walking back over to her and sitting back into the chair. He looked expectantly at her until she got the message and spoke up.

"Using this glove I am able to forcibly eject your soul from your body. It helps when a hollow appears though your body will be left vulnerable since your body will remain unconscious. Gikon's can be used to solve that problem. Gikon's are temporary souls that replace your soul and take control of your body they are held in little dispensers called Gikongan, tomorrow I will bring a Gikon for you to use, for now this is what I have." She finished saying holding up the red glove.

Nodding in agreement with her last statement he stared down at his body that was still on the floor.

Ichigo looked back up at Rukia before gesturing towards his body. "So how do I get back in?"

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

The next day started off better than the previous. His father didn't bother him and be was able to avoid his sisters. It wasn't that he didn't like his sisters, he loved both of them, it was just he could live without Karin's attitude and Yuzu's mothering behavior annoyed and pleased him. It annoyed him because his father should have been the one dealing with he family not his little sister. It pleased him because it made Yuzu happy to take care of everyone.

His father was one problem he was happy to ignore. The goofy man was anything but a father figure to him. When he needed the man the most he bailed out on him and turned into a pathetic goofball. He called it tough love, Ichigo called it total bullshit. His father, no, Isshin would swear up and down that he would do anything for his children yet he couldn't be half the man his son needed and the parental fail is reflected in Ichigo's childhood.

The walk to school was short and he arrived there half an hour earlier than needed. He walked up two flights of stairs to reach the hall his homeroom was on. He walked down the hall slowly not in any particular hurry to reach the classroom. Abruptly he stopped as his senses prickled. He turned his body to the side in time to avoid a flying tackle. The body flew past him landing on the floor face down the face of his attacker skidded painfully against the ground.

"Ichigooooo how was your night?" the shrill voice of Keigo called out from his spot on the floor muffled somewhat because he was holding his nose.

"Fine." Ichigo replied tersely

Oncoming footsteps alerted Ichigo to more people coming down the hall. Ichigo turned around to see his friends coming down the hall. Inoue was chattering in Tatsuki's ear about a new recipe she wanted to try. Mizuiro was typing on his phone. Chizuru was leering at Orihime and Chad walked silently at her side.

When the group finally reached where Ichigo was standing, they all saw Keigo crying on the floor clutching his nose, ranting about 'evil strawberries that never pay attention'.

"Hello everyone, I hope your night was pleasant." A voice called from down the hall.

Everyone turned and saw Rukia sauntering down the hall and when she reached them she curtsied. Ichigo sneered at her behavior and walked away from the group while they were distracted. Chizuru followed in after him and sat down on his desk while he sat in the chair.

"So I take it you don't like the new girl." She said happily while swinging her legs back and forth.

"What gave it away?" He said softly leaning back in his chair to look her in the face.

Chizuru chuckled lightly, it was apparent that he was ignoring her indirect question. As always when this happened it turned into a game of sorts. They would dance around the questions until one of them gave up.

"Just that you are more scowly than usual. But seriously tell me what's going on. Her voice took on a serious note at the end. Ichigo knew she really wanted an answer since she kept adjusting her glasses on her face and pouted at him.

Ichigo arched his eyebrow at her and opened his mouth to say something but just as he was about to answer her the bell rang. Chizuru glared at him, silently telling him they weren't finished talking. The others came inside the classroom just as He began to pull out his books. Chad sat down in the seat next to Ichigo and nodded to him, to everyone else the nod was normal but to Ichigo he knew that Chad was also telling him he wanted to know why he didn't like Rukia. Sometimes it amazed Ichigo just how much the silent giant heard.

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

Ochi-sensei was twenty minutes into her history lesson when an ear splitting screech filled the room. Ichigo stiffened in his seat and looked over at Rukia, who was still copying down notes from the board. He recognized the sound of the hollow when it roared again, this time much closer to the school. Rukia finally hearing the sound looked up startled. Ichigo stood up and walked towards the classroom door without asking his teacher to leave. He gained suspicious looks from both Chizuru and Chad but he pointedly ignored them and continued out the classroom. Ochi-sensei who was use to his strange behavior him leave but not without writing his name down for detention.

Out in the hallway Ichigo waited for Rukia to come out. Several seconds later she bust out of the classroom with her bag clutched in her hand. She then pulled out a something that looked like a pez dispenser with a rabbit head in top.

"Ichigo this is the Gikongan I was talking about, just taking one of the pills and swallow it." Rukia said happily."The gikon is Chappy the rabbit, it's the most popular of the gikon. Chappy is my absolute favorite." She continued hopping around like a bunny.

Ichigo looked at the pill warily before popping it in his mouth. He felt a sudden push and the next thing he knew he was standing outside of his body.

Ichigo's body didn't slump to the floor like it did before, this time the body stood up straight with one hand held to his forehead in a salute.

"My name is Kurosaki Ichigo." The artificial soul said.

Ichigo stared curiously at the body before shaking his head he needed to go deal with the hollow.

"Watch him Rukia, make sure he doesn't do something that will make me angry." Ichigo jumped out the window as soon as those words left his mouth. Rukia stood there dumbfounded for a moment before pulling the mod soul back into the classroom.

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

The hollow was easy to deal with, it was surprisingly easy to kill he didn't understand what was so difficult that Rukia almost lost her life to the hollow. The hollow was smaller than the last one but a lot faster. He realized during the battle that if he wanted to defeat these things easily he would have to bring up his skills. One of the first things he would need to do was bring up speed and learn how to wield a sword properly. He wasn't exactly sure of the abilities of a soul reaper or where the strange weapon came from but he vowed to get answers to questions he had.

The school building came into view when he made another decision to tell Chad and Chizuru what was going on before everything got out of hand. Just as he reached the classroom he heard a loud scream come from the inside of the classroom. He burst inside to see desks and books thrown haphazardly around the classroom and a very angry Tatsuki panting in the center of the room. He looked around the classroom and saw that Rukia and his body were nowhere to be found.

What surprised him was that Chad and Chizuru were the only ones that looked towards the door and looked directly at him. Others looked at the door when it was opened but didn't see anything. They both stared at him but he just shook his head signaling to them that he would explain later.

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

Ichigo was surprised yet again when he found the two lounging in the middle of a field. He stalked up to them and stood over their figures.

"O..oh Ichigo what are you doing here?" Rukia asked innocently.

Ichigo scowled at the two of them before kicking his body, not hard he really didn't want to hurt himself, in the side. 'Ichigo' popped up and looked around for the assaulter. When he saw Ichigo's imposing figure standing over them he quickly scrambled over and hid behind Rukia's back.

"Listen I do not feel like playing with you guys. Tell me what happened and get that thing out of my body." The last part directed towards Rukia.

The two stood up and walked towards a nearby picnic table with Ichigo following behind them. Once seated at the picnic table 'Ichigo' and Rukia continued to fiddle around with their clothing, stray leaves, grass, and splinters on the table. The real Ichigo finally had enough of it and cleared his throat gathering both of their attentions. Ichigo gave Rukia an icy glare hoping that she would get his point and finally start talking.

Taking a deep unneeded breath Rukia began.

"Right after you left the soul and I went into the classroom. Ochi-sensei took your name off the detention list after you promised to never interrupt her lesson again after that, things got a little complicated."

_Rukia had just sat down from apologizing to the teacher for walking out when an announcement on the loudspeaker called an emergency staff meeting. The students were allowed to do as they pleased until the teachers returned._

_"Hello gorgeous, may I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"_

_A voice that sounded similar to Ichigo's but had a whiny undertone drawled out causing several other girls in the classroom to giggle._

_Rukia turned her head to see the Konpaku that inhabited Ichigo's body hold Orihime's hand and kiss the back of it. The girl had a wild blush spread across her face as the gesture was initiated. Tatsuki who was standing next to Orihime raised her fist to hit 'Ichigo' for being a pervert. The punch was dodged by the konpaku but the next was caught. 'Ichigo' used the caught fist to bring Tatsuki closer to him._

_"My, my, you sure are feisty. You're kind of cute when you have a scowl on your face." The konpaku whispered into Tatsuki's ear before moving back and kissing her on the cheek._

_The girl flushed in anger before delivering a powerful punch with her un-captured hand. 'Ichigo' laughed and flipped away from her attack. He moved over to the window and looked over to Rukia giving her a two finger salute before jumping out._

_The classroom was in complete silence for a couple of moments before all hell broke loose. Tatsuki consumed in rage started throwing things around while wishing death upon Ichigo. The other classmates were at the window looking for Ichigo to see if was dead or not._

_Rukia calmly walked to the front of the room, she cleared her throat loudly enough to gather the whole classrooms attention. When she had that she dug into the pocket of her uniform and pulled out a tube like device._

_"I want all eyes on me." Rukia said as she pressed the button on the device a giant poof of smoke released from the device causing all the students to blink. When the smoke cleared all the students were talking about a strange man that came in the classroom, Tatsuki had successfully fended him off and in an act of desperation he jumped out the window._

_Rukia was pleased with her work, mentally patting herself on the back. After a few moments of self adulation she ran out the class in pursuit of the missing konpaku. After several minutes of running around she found the soul casually resting in of an open field tired after running around so much she laid down next to him enjoying the cool breeze._

"That's all that happened on my end while you were gone." Rukia ended nodding to herself.

Ichigo scowled but nodded to her. He turned his attention to the soul that was sitting next to Rukia on the opposite side of the table.

"What happened after you jumped out of the building?"

The Konpaku mulled over his thoughts before dramatically clearing his throat and beginning his tale.

"After I had jumped out of the window I wandered around searching for something to do. It had been a long time since I had a body to walk around freely in so I thought I'd have some fun while I could. Nothing really happened beside a hollow that came to kill a couple of kids. It was pretty weak, one kick and it was gone. After that I walked around some more and found this spot and came to rest not too long later she showed up and laid down next to me."

Ichigo nodded to the Konpaku. Nothing too damaging occurred. The only bad things that did happened were covered up so no lasting damage happened. Well at least he hoped so. He really didn't feel like dealing with anymore shit.

"Before I forget, I've come to an understanding that we are not dealing with a normal konpaku. It seems that I managed to get a Kaizo Konpaku, a modified soul that was used to help with the eradication of Hollows. The project itself was deemed inhumane and was terminated all the souls were sent to be destroyed but I guess a few managed to remain hidden all these years." Rukia explained more to herself than to those that were present.

"As a shinigami it is my duty to make sure that this modsoul is destroyed."

Rukia had stood up and flipped away from the konpaku when she was done talking; she had raised her right arm and put her left hand on her wrist.

"Hado 33 Sokatsui"

A blue burst of light flew from her palm towards the Gikon, The ball hit the spot the gikon was sitting and lit up the area in blue fire before quickly dissipating. She looked around herself carefully for the artificial soul.

"Boo"

The word was spoken directly in front of her. She stumbled back from the suddenness but fixed herself in time to block a kick directed towards her stomach. The soul spun himself on his heel and used his other foot to kick her in her arm. Rukia let go of his foot from the pain that tingled up and down her arm. She leaped away from the konpaku, when she distanced herself from him Rukia fell to her knees gripping her arm. She flexed it experimentally only to stop because of the pain that flared in her arm. It was moments later that she realized her arm was starting to numb.

Rukia grit her teeth and stood up ready to resume fighting, when she was suddenly tackled to the ground

Annoyed with the duo Ichigo tuned out their squabbling. When he saw the modified soul get flipped to the ground he ran over to them and pulled Rukia up by her waist. Holding her to his side he pulled the Konpaku up with his other hand.

"You can stay." Ichigo said dropping Rukia to the ground and walking away.

When Ichigo got home he wasn't surprised to see Chizuru and Chad waiting at his doorstep. Walking past them and unlocking his door he led them up to his room.

Chizuru plopped down on his bed and Chad took the desk chair. The room was quiet with only the near silent sounds of them breathing.

"We saw you Ichigo." Chad's monotone voice broke through Ichigo's thoughts.

"I know." He replied back dully.

The room was quiet once again except for the overbearing ticking of the clock on Ichigo's nightstand. A couple of sighs and Chizuru's anger grew. A tick mark formed on her forehead. Another sigh came from Ichigo and she flipped out.

Standing up on his bed she threw her hand out and pointed at them in anger.

"Alright, enough with this bullshit. Tell us now Ichigo or I'll beat the shit out of you."

Ichigo have the red head a glare before staring pointedly at her feet. With a huff she sat back down.

"You neat freaks disgust me." she said in fond annoyance.

A small smile played on Ichigo's lips. He waited a moment before finally speaking and telling them everything that happened. It was late at night when they finished speaking. Ichigo let Chizuru have he bed while he and Chad took out the extra bedding to sleep on the floor. With a halfhearted goodnight to his friends he went to sleep noting a special date on the calendar coming up.

* * *

That last part doesnt please me. But I hope you guys enjoyed. Once again thanks **duhorcommonsense** for being awesome and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter.

Any questions, comments, concerns. Drop a review or pm me.


	3. Interlude Tears In The Rain

Everything Falls Apart

Chapter 3 - Interlude

Interlude - Tears in the Rain

* * *

_How heavy fell the rain that day_  
_From burdened clouds of mournful grey._  
_The torrent forced them stay their height -_  
_Composure swayed by onerous might._

_My skin wrung wet with icy chill_  
_As mud embraced that sodden hill._  
_But mind of mine had elsewhere gone -_  
_'Twas clouds abandoned I was on._

* * *

She was there again.

The woman wore a pretty blue sundress that was caked in copious amounts of blood and dirt. All of which cracked and fell off her dress as she floated listlessly outside his window. Every night she would come to sing a mournful song consisting of pain filled wails and whimpers of sadness. Each night the melody would hang in the air like a fog and consume all thoughts of happiness and it would only fade away as the sun kissed the heavens.

When Ichigo was younger he swore he could hear her shallow breaths in his ear. Her cold cheeks pressed against his own. Raspy cold breaths made him shiver in fear. When he would turn around to face the apparition he would see nothing, the air in his room heavy and humid as he searched wildly for a sign of the ghost. This search always prompted him to go to the window which was always left open a crack to keep the room from getting hot. He would always walk quietly, afraid to disturb anything. His footsteps silent in his ears and he walked to the closed curtain. His hand constantly trembled as he reached over to open the curtain. The fear he felt managed to overwhelm him, he would stop and hesitate outstretched arm shaking. It was during those brief moments of hesitation that he would doubt what he had seen and felt in his dark lonely room. Then with a rush of courage he would rip open the curtains to see that she stood faithfully outside under the streetlight whimpering in pain. Her hair creating a halo around her head in the dim light.

Some nights he woke to her stroking his hair and humming a lullaby. Other nights he woke to her bone white hands wrapped around his neck. With her nails painfully digging into his skin often times piercing his flesh. In her eyes Ichigo could see hate and disgust and when he was on the verge of unconsciousness the emotions would disappear to be replaced with love. She would then remove her hands small rivulets of blood ran down his throat as she tenderly brushed back his hair and wiped his cheeks as he cried himself back to sleep. A kiss on the forehead and then it became a dream.

Even in her pain she was beautiful. A tall slender woman with a heart shaped face and sharp eyebrows. Her full pink lips and her button nose complimented her wide expressive brown eyes. Eyes so much like his own. Her head was full of curly brown hair that had natural streaks of blonde in it.

Masaki Kurosaki

His mother.

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

The morning was ugly. Thick gray clouds covered the sky like a large slab of concrete. The air was heavy and humid making it difficult to breathe. The morning chill ensured everyone was bundled up and had a umbrella to fend off the chilling rain.

A small knock at his door interrupted Ichigo's thoughts. He turned away from the window to go and pull open his door. He was greeted with the sight of his little sister Yuzu. She held a somber expression on her normally cheery face. It was disturbing to see her in such a state but he was unable to do anything for her, he lost that right years ago.

"Ichigo breakfast is ready." the words hung uncomfortably in the air. The usual excitement was gone. Yuzu looked up at him with wide brown eyes. Her wide imploring stare scared him, it was almost as if she was seeing through him.

He gave a noncommittal grunt before shutting the door again. He waited with bated breath until he heard her slippers thump against the stairs. When he was sure she was gone he slid down the door while pulling he knees up to his chest. He rested his face against his knees in defeat, fingers idly tracing his scarred neck which usually lay hidden behind collared shirts. She hadn't called him Ichi-nii for a long time. He no longer garnered such affection from his sister. He didn't deserve that type of affection.

He lost the right to be her big brother years ago.

He got off the floor and walked over to the window. He leaned against it to cool off his hot face before turning away. Ichigo turned back to look out at the rain rolling down the open window pane. A loud echoing scratch ran down the glass and his heart thumped painfully when he saw his mother outside and it was no surprise to him to see her standing there under the streetlight in the rain.

Rain

Pure

Refreshing

Beautiful

Just like his mother.

Her curly brown hair clung to her forehead as she looked up at him a small smile played on her lips. Her hands were clasped together behind her back while she gently swayed from side to side. He could practically hear her humming the lullaby she sung the day she died.

Ichigo swallowed the lump in his throat and slowly closed the window and closed the curtain. He backed away slowly with tears blurring his vision. Slowly he sank to his knees in the middle of the room. Rocking himself back and forth in a vain hope of calming his nerves.

In the end he settled for lying on the floor across the room from the window with his back against the wall. He kept his eyes firmly glued on the window waiting for her to come like she always did.

It could have been minutes or hours that he laid on the floor with his back against the wall. His eyes were glued to the window watching as the curtain teasingly blew back and forth. Parting slightly then gently closing only to open once again. A chill began to seep into the room.

It was moments later when he finally got off he floor and finished getting ready for school and walked down the stairs He didn't even bother to stop in the kitchen for his breakfast. He continued walking to the foyer to put on his shoes when he heard a shuffling of feet behind him. Normally he would be dodging an attack at thus moment but the softness of the footsteps told him it was one of his sisters. The scrapping noise of the slipper against the ground told him that it was Karin.

No words were spoken. She put on her shoes. He stood up. She opened the door. He walked out. She closed it behind him. He didn't look back.

Once he arrived at the school he didn't waste any time pulling of his messenger bag and sitting in his seat. He leaned forward on his arms turning his head towards the window to watch the gray sky slowly darken. It wasn't long until he heard the shuffling steps of his friend's feet. The loudest steps were accompanied by an even louder voice. For a moment he was glad he only had to deal with him and the rest of his friends long enough to pick up his homework.

"GOOOOOD MOOOOORNIIIIIING ICHIIIIIGOOOO!"

Ichigo grit his teeth in annoyance, he would never get any peace if his friends had their way. Keigo was a great friend but there was only so much of the teen's antics that Ichigo could take.

He scowled at the boy who was now standing in front of the window and thus blocking his view of the window. Keigo in an act of self preservation displayed his amazing flexibility by literally shifting himself into a 'c' to dodge Ichigo's punch. The message was sent and the brown haired boy quickly scrambled away from him.

Keigo was instantly behind Mizuiro cowering in fear making a big scene for no apparent reason. It wasn't until Tatsuki came over to hit him on the head that Keigo stopped playing around. Ichigo could hear her telling them about the date and what it meant to him, it bothered him that she would tell them without his permission but there was no point in him getting angry over it, she didn't know what happened. It did make him angry when he was given looks of pity from Inoue, Mizuiro, Keigo, and Rukia. He wished he could disappear from the school, he wished he could rewind time, he wished, he wished, he wished. In the end it all came back to the same thing.

He wished he were dead.

No! He didn't wish he were dead. He wished for the terrible memories to wash away with the rain. A storm of self hatred and despair waged a war in his body. Why did it always rain on this day? Why was he so weak?

His train of thought abruptly stopped. He wasn't weak, he would continue to live and become stronger. Strong enough to prevent someone he loved from getting hurt. Strong enough to protect himself from getting hurt. Strong enough to protect himself from himself.

Today will not be a great day. But who's there to say tomorrow won't be his greatest.

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

"Ichigo!"

The teen looked up from his homework to see Yuzu holding a tray of food. He looked back down to his Calculus homework. It was ten o'clock in the morning he and his family were getting ready to visit his mother's grave. He heard Yuzu shuffle into the room and place the tray next to him.

"We will be leaving in twenty minutes."

He put the book away after she closed the door. A deep sigh was expelled from his chest. Slumping forward he buried his face in his hands. He brought his arms down to wrap around his waist laying his head on his desk. He put each of his hands on his forearms and dug nails into his skin. He squeezed harder and harder trying to release his pent up stress. He sat that way for awhile just feeling the dull throb of his nails piercing his skin. A moment later he let go. Let go of his sadness. Let go of his pain and let go of his emotions. He was numb now and at that point in time it was okay.

"Ichigo it's time to go." The voice was low and gruff unlike his normally cheerful father.

He turned in his chair to see his father standing by his bedroom door dressed in a black suit. An unusual contrast to his white hospital jacket. Ichigo stood up, grabbed his jacket, and brushed past his father.

The trip to the cemetery was a quiet one. No one spoke, the radio was on low a old pop song played that he vaguely recalled the lyrics to. When they pulled up to the cemetery Ichigo couldn't help but notice Isshin tense. It amazed him somewhat to see his normal aloof father become so serious.

Out of the car he felt ill at ease when Isshin sent the girls away. Signaling him to follow along. For a short while the duo walked in silence. Ichigo letting his clothes become heavy with rain because he would not allow himself to share Isshin's umbrella.

The grave stood out like a sore thumb in the gloom. Beautiful yellow flowers laid around the grave. Tulips his mother's favorite flower. A few more tulips were added when Isshin came to stop in front of the grave. Ichigo looked away from the man. Silently they stood there until Ichigo heard the click of a lighter and smelled cigarette smoke. The umbrella was suddenly held over his head and he looked up to stare at the dark haired man. Isshin smoked the cigarette for a moment.

"It's hard to let go isn't it. Masaki always hated when I smoked." Another drag. Then a puff.

"But it's not the end of the world Ichigo. Sometimes you just have to let go." A drag. A puff.

He took a drag of his cigarette. He let out another puff of smoke. "When I met your mother I thought we'd be together forever. I realized that forever wasn't an attainable reality when she died."

A deep drag, with three short puffs of smoke. Ichigo didn't bother to hold his expression of disgust. Not even when the man looked down at him. A lone dark brown eye was seen through the muted light. A sad smiled played on his lips around the cigarette.

"I can't lie, I hated you for a while." Isshin momentarily paused to stare imploringly at Ichigo. His eyes begged Ichigo to understand.

"I hated the fact that Masaki lost her life that day. I hated the fact that I wasn't there to protect her." Isshin continued his voice taking on a husky tone of grief.

_Please choke to death on your cigarette._

Isshin took another drag before dropping the cigarette to the sopping ground. The flame drowning in a puddle of rain. "I hated myself too." Isshin said turning away from the grave.

"I tried to push myself away from you. Even with your orange hair you looked too much like Masaki for me to handle."

Why does that man make him feel ashamed because of his looks. The same nose, the same eyes, the same mouth, smile, laugh, body type, the same, the same.

He remembers his father's cries at night "Why does he look like you?"

He remembers his neighbor's sentiments "Oh don't worry dear. It hurts him to see how much you look like her."

He couldn't help it. Could he?

Isshin continued unaware of the turmoil of Ichigo's thoughts "I live in reality Ichigo. A reality that makes me a flawed man, I can't take back what I did to you for all these years, but I can always try to make it up."

"You don't know what happened that day" The disuse of his voice was evident in the raspy quality.

The rain drenched Ichigo once again. When the umbrella was move away from his head. He stared at Isshin's retreating back. The man had come to his own assumptions. He never asked what truly happened before he sent Ichigo away. He didn't want to know. Ichigo didn't say any more as Isshin walked away from him like he did all those years ago.

Funnily enough it hurt more now then it did when he was younger. He didn't care though, his father would probably spend all his life trying but it won't do any good. Just like his father hated him then he hated his father now.

Ichigo stood by the grave long after Isshin left. The rain made his clothes heavy. He stated at the grave and the bright flowers. The images of that day came to the forefront of his mind. He didn't want to remember. He didn't want to see.

Ichigo tilted his head back letting rain fall on his face. The little fragment of time where he was able to keep his eyes open he saw that the sky looked beautiful even with all the rain. Ichigo sighed deeply. The rain held so many meanings.

He sat down on the sopping ground not caring that his clothes were becoming dirty. He just sat there and stared at the grave. He thought over everything he felt and how he could change. He smiled a true smile for the first time in which seemed to be forever. He would change and everything would be fine. He relaxed into the rain and let it wash away all his fears. He abruptly tensed when he felt a spark of spiritual energy appear behind him. Turning around he was angered to see Rukia standing a ways behind him in the small forest.

He stood awkwardly in his soaked clothes and stalked towards her, angry at her audacity.

He snarled when he came up her.

"What are you doing here?" He wasn't interested in the answer he just wanted her gone.

Rukia took a step back at his angry tone. He had been angry before but never to extent. It was the. She realized she had egregiously over stepped her bounds. He wouldn't see her presence as help only a disturbance. Suddenly she felt stupid for not listening to Kon when he said for her not to go.

"I came here in case there was a hollow attack." Only a hint of a stutter appeared when she said hollow barely noticeable.

Ichigo watched dispassionately as she twisted her hands on the handle of the umbrella. While the reason was valid it still was an invasion of privacy. Abruptly his anger deflated, he wanted to change and he would be damned of she made him go back on his promise.

"Leave." He turned away from her and walked towards the car.

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

It was night again. The time he hated the most. He lay in his bed that night watching the breeze flutter the curtains to his window. A chill seeped into the room and he felt the cold hands of death clench around his throat. It was beautiful and it was sad. Her light brown eyes, a shade so much like his own, looked hollow. Her beautiful skin was dull and gray. Her beautiful curly brown hair limp and disgusting. The cold hands of death gripped tighter blackness touched the edges of his sight. Two sharp breaths and it was quiet.

A heart beat.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Shaky hands reached up and grabbed brittle hands. They tugged and pulled and finally death gave way. Vision clearing up he looked at his mother. A remnant of his mother. The gray skin cracked as she smiled a toothless smile. A rasping breath and a kiss on his forehead. Heat leaked into his room, his chilled skin warmed. She was gone and just like that he was alone.

He always hated when it rained. The gloomy air loved to dredge up painful memories. He hated that he use to wake up to his heart threatening to stop. He hated that he would wake up to a remnant of his mother. He hated when the times she was so sweet and tender. It was false always would be false. Now he would wake up alone. He could finally move on. He resolved to move on in the graveyard. The death of his mother wouldn't kill him. He could finally fight back.

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

* * *

_The driving drops advanced their gears_  
_To camouflage my sneaking tears -_  
_Whence now did swell such floods of pain_  
_To see me melt into this rain…_

_On equal bearing now were we:_  
_This rain; myself, in harmony._

* * *

The poem is by Mark R Slaughter and it is titled"My Sneaking Tears".

Oh I realized I keep forgetting a disclaimer. Anyway I don't own Bleach.

I hoped everyone enjoyed. I'm sick so this chapter was shorter than usual. Next chapter will be nice and long.

Any comments, questions, concerns, Drop a review or PM me.

Thanks!


	4. No Turning Back

Everything Falls Apart

Chapter 4 - No Turning Back

Chapter 4 Start

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

He breathed heavily as he blocked another kick. He threw out two punches before ducking to evade a punch to the face. Grabbing the outstretched arm of his opponent he twisted it and brought them to the ground. He heard three taps against the floor and let go.

Chizuru panted on the ground, mad that she once again lost a spar to her friend. Rolling over to lay on the grass she breathed heavily trying to regain her breath. She yelped and stood up when she was splashed by cold water.

Ichigo laughed softly at his friend who looked like a wet cat. He grunted when he was tackled to the floor. The two of them wrestled for a moment before simply laying in the grass, Ichigo had his arms underneath his head while Chizuru cuddled into his side.

He thought back to earlier when Chizuru called him so they could spar. Apparently a girl she met stood her up for a date. It turned out to be a joke the girls boyfriend put her up to. Ichigo felt disgusted with the girl even though he never met her or knew what she looked like. He sighed as he pulled Chizuru closer when she shivered lightly in the breeze.

The last couple of weeks had been vey tough. The amount of hollows that he had to fight was staggering and becoming a nuisance quickly especially when the disturbances reached out to his friends. The possessed parakeet that he had helped Chad deal with was just one example, though the only good thing that came with it was Chad's increasing ability to see spirits and sense hollows. The attack on Inoue was surprising as well, after hearing her tragic story of her brother he felt sympathetic towards her and what she went through.

Ichigo gave a sigh before tilting his head up to stare at the clouds. His plans towards training had get to see the light of day. He had nowhere to practice and he needed a teacher. Without those two vital things his abilities were stagnating. heaving another sigh Ichigo decided to worry about training later and take a nap. The day was nice and no hollows had appeared. He enjoyed the peaceful silence hoping it would last.

"Ichigo! Ichigo!" A familiar voice called out his name.

Running up to him was Rukia her pleated skirt billowing in the breeze as she ran. Though it was the gray shirt she wore that caught his eyes it looked familiar, now that he thought about it the skirt looked like something Yuzu would wear.

Ichigo groaned while cursing his luck, he wished Rukia would leave him alone. Ever since that day at the graveyard she had been popping up at the most unexpected moments. It had gotten to the point where half the school believed they were dating. Ichigo sat up slowly and shifted the now sleeping Chizuru to lay in his lap. The raven haired girl came up to them slowly as she noticed the sleeping girl lying on Ichigo's lap. With a raised eyebrow she shuffled towards him and sat in the grass, wrinkling her nose as the dew made the grass stick to her legs.

"Ichigo there is someone I need you to meet. He could help with your training." Rukia whispered, or tried to whisper, to him.

Releasing a sigh Ichigo nodded shaking the red haired girl awake. He looked down at her before nodding his head towards Rukia.

"You wanna go with me to meet someone?" He asked her softly. Well aware if he spoke too loudly as she was waking up she would punch him.

A gasp of surprise made him look up sharply at Rukia, who looked a little angry.

"It was supposed to stay secret Ichigo." She said while shaking her head making her black hair flip wildly.

Giving her an apathetic look Ichigo stood up, then helped Chizuru up.

"Are you taking me or not" he wasn't really interested in meeting this person but if it got her off his back he would take it.

With a huff she stalked pass them, looking at each other Ichigo and Chizuru shrugged before following behind her at a sedate pace.

It took a couple of minutes to reach a shabby candy store which looked like a pervert would work there. Rukia walked and closed the door behind the duo when they stepped onto a tatami mat.

"Uruhara!" The sudden shout from the black haired midget caused Ichigo's ears to ring.

Ichigo scowled at the girl and was about to say something when a tall man walked out from a previously hidden door. The man easily towered over the three teens. A hat covered most of his shaggy blonde hair, the rest of his hair covered his eyes. He wore a white undershirt with a green kimono top and bottom to match his green and white hat. His geta sandals made low clicks on the floor as he walked towards them. A big smile was sent towards Rukia before he leered at Chizuru. Ichigo's previous assumptions were correct, the store was owned by a pervert.

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

After introductions were over the unkempt man. Spoke of a training schedule for Ichigo. To Ichigo the plan was total shit. He was supposed to meet the man once a week to practice after he had unlocked his own abilities. It was decided to unlock his abilities tomorrow and begin training the next week. Ichigo felt that he needed to be trained more then once a week but decided he could do that on his own. He hoped the other shinigami weren't as useless.

Saying goodbye to the man Chizuru and Ichigo began walking home. Outside the shop the air was cold. Chilling breeze rushed by causing goosebumps to appear all over their skin. Ichigo sighed and put his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He wished be had brought a jacket but there was nothing he could do. He heard a chattering of teeth and snuck a sideways glance at Chizuru.

The girls face was a startling shade of red it almost matched the red of her hair. With a little smile Ichigo raised his arm and put it across Chizuru's shoulder and pulled her into his side. He was awarded with the girls tinkling laughter. He smiled fondly at her, she felt like a sister to him. He felt a little bad for thinking that because he had his own sisters but unlike them he could relate to Chizuru. It was a little callous for him to think like that, but he couldn't help how he felt.

A sudden tingling against his skin caused Ichigo to stiffen. He was surprised to feel Chizuru tense against him. The two of them walked a bit quicker as the Kurosaki household came into view. A chilling laugh echoed behind them. The air had gotten colder. Tense with nerves Ichigo pulled Chizuru along with him. More laughter. A sudden scream tore through the air.

"Help... me... please?" A soft raspy voice asked.

Ichigo turned around to see a spirit floating behind him. Chizuru's scream the only thing that alerted him to what he was seeing was actually real. And very gruesome m.

A man. He wasn't old and he wasn't young. Middle aged. A man with half of his flesh missing. Muscle and tendons could clearly be seen. Translucent blood leaked against the concrete.

No eyes.

A mouth stitched closed.

Blood.

There was so much blood.

Silvers of blood dripping on the concrete. Coming closer. Sinew in view for the two teens. The mans abdomen was ripped open. Just the deep red flesh that was bathed in blood a hint of pink and white and just a peek of his heart.

The man came closer.

The step seemed to shift something and it all fell out. The kidneys fell with a splat on the concrete. The large infesting and the small intestine completely unraveled and fell like rope from the man's body. Yet he continued to walk even as a kidney was crushed underneath his foot. The intestines dragged against the ground as the liver fell out next. The stomach hung loosely inside the abdomen connected by a minuscule amount of flesh.

The spirit continued to walk towards their frozen forms. A hand held over the large wound as of it would stop the waterfall of blood. The hand limply fell from its place and was brought up in front of him. Inches away from touching Chizuru's face. The bloody hand was just about to touch her face when it disappeared.

Ichigo had always seen spirits, ever since he was young he had seen them. He remembered the first time he saw one. He was four years old and it was only him and his father in the house.

_He had always liked to explore the attic by himself. Even if his mom told him not to go alone. He was looking in the boxes stacked in the back of the attic when he heard a sniffle. Surprised, Ichigo went to look for the source of the sound. He pushed the stacks of boxes away and old electronics when he saw a young boy huddled in the corner. He went over to the boy. He tapped the boy._

_"Excuse me, why are you crying?" He asked softly with childish curiosity. His eyes gleaming cheerfully._

_A new friend. He'll have a new friend._

_The boy just shook his head and buried his face in his knees. Trying again Ichigo patted the boys back and continued to do so until the sobbing stopped. Satisfied he pulled the boy up to see his face. The boys head flopped back as if there was nothing for it to hold on to. Flesh disgusting rotting flesh. It was all he saw. The dark flesh made him sick and unable to do anything else he started to crawl away front he boy. He didn't realize there were boxes behind him and he bumped into them the sharp corners digging into his back. The boxes fell over and the boy dragged his lifeless blue eyes towards Ichigo. He crawled closer to him a weird groaning moan falling from cracked lips. Stubby fingers digging into the old attic flooring making creaking noises. Ichigo had tried to get up and run away but he couldn't and suddenly the spirit was in front of him._

_A hand reached towards his face._

_Cold._

_It was cold._

_"Help me." The boy whispered "Please help me."_

_He was cold._

_It was so cold._

_Then a scream._

Shaking his head Ichigo was brought back to the present. Chizuru's scream tore him out of his memories. The spirit hadn't truly disappeared it reappeared where it had started. Ichigo dragged Chizuru to his house and set A fast pace which was on the verge of running.

It didn't matter if his father and sisters were sitting on the couch and looked up at the teens that burst into the house. He practically carried Chizuru up the stairs to his room. His breath shuddered in his chest as he locked his room door.

"What the hell was that Ichigo"

Chizuru trembled. Never had she seen something like that. She paced back and forth in the middle of the room her manicured nails gripped her crimson hair tightly.

"It was a spirit Chizuru." Ichigo said tiredly as he slid down onto the floor. He didn't think he would ever become desensitized to the body of a ravaged spirit. But that wasnt what scared him. Caught in his memories and the gruesome visage of the ghost he heard the cackling laughter along with the distorted voice that he constantly heard in his nightmares. It had appeared the day his mother died.

"Ichigo!"

Chizuru called from her position on Ichigo's bed. It had been several minutes since came into the room and her friend had been sitting despondently on the floor. His normally bright hazel eyes were a dull muddy brown. The red haired girl chewed her lip in worry. Ichigo hadnt been like this for years, since that time. She called his name a few more times before getting off the bed. She walked towards the tense boy with slow steady steps as if afraid to make the slightest noise.

"Ichigo" she tried again softly

Chizuru stood in front of Ichigo her violet orbs shone with worry. She crouched down in front of her friend.

Ichigo looked up and took in the visage in front of him. Bright violet eyes shone in worry and fear. Glasses askew and crimson hair unkempt. He had only seen Chizuru look that way a few times since becoming friends. Gently he took her hands into his own.

"I call those imprints" He looked up to see Chizuru's confused face.

"I call them that because those souls won't be able to move on." He continued

Chizuru nodded and sat on the floor. "Why won't they be able to move on?"

"I don't really know but it's like they are stuck in their last moments of life and have no way of moving on." Ichigo stopped and turned away from Chizuru's imploring eyes.

"Let's just go to sleep"

Chizuru opened her mouth to object but closed it when she saw how haunted Ichigo looked. Getting off the floor she accepted the spare sleeping clothes and spare toothbrush.

She said her thanks as she went to go shower and get ready for the night.

Ichigo sighed when Chizuru left the room. Life was becoming more complicated than he wanted it to be. He pulled out extra bedding from his closet and set it up on the floor. He was glad there was no school in the morning because he could feel that Chizuru had more questions.

A knock at his door startled him. Calling out for the person to open it, he was surprised to see Yuzu holding Kon.

"I saw him on your bed and thought it was cute. I hope you don't mind."

"It's no problem Yuzu" he assured her quickly. "You can make all the dresses you want." Kon's groan was drowned out by Yuzu's squeal.

He smiled softly when his sister shit the door behind her.

"Don't laugh you overgrown strawberry! I was tortured today. Just look at what she put on me."

Ichigo ignored the strawberry remark and took in what the lion was wearing. A very frilly dress and a big red ribbon. He chuckled a bit at the lion's disgruntled expression.

"Don't laugh it isn't funny" the squeakiness of Kon's voice made the statement less menacing than he wanted it to be. The punches he was giving to did nothing to help his image.

"Showers re-"

Ichigo looked up to see a vacant expression on Chizuru's face. He was going to explain what was going on but Chizuru's scream cut him off. In a flash Kon was cuddled into Chizuru's chest and being squeezed to death.

"You can talk to her." Ichigo said on his way put the room.

On his way back into the room, after doing his nightly ritual, he was surprised to see Chizuru curled up in the bed with Kon clutched in her arms. Smiling he went and turned off the lights going and going to sleep.

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

The morning dawned bright and early, Chizuru had left after having breakfast and Ichigo had nothing to do. Chad was away visiting relatives and would t be back until the next day. Isshin and his sisters went on a outing, he didn't know where.

He sighed and decided to clean. He was the one that took over cleaning while Yuzu took over cooking and the laundry. Karin usually was roped into helping in the clinic.

Ichigo spent the morning cleaning the house and was now finishing his room. He was now dusting the shelves on his bookcase. Once he finished that he began re-organizing his books and school books. The five shelf bookcase was organized to have the top two shelves were dedicated to textbooks lined in alphabetical order within subject. The third and fourth shelves were dedicated to all of his leisurely reading categorized by author then by title and finally genre. The bottom shelf was dedicated to all of the plays by Shakespeare that he owned it was organized by preference rather than title.

Once that was done he went to check on his cleaning supplies. With a groan he realized that he had to go and buy more bleach. Muttering to himself he put on his boots before heading out the house.

The air was chilly when he stepped out of the house, he wished that he put on a jacket but was too lazy to go get one he sighed before locking the door behind him and leaving. The breeze ruffling his as he set a brisk pace down to the shopping district. Karakura shopping center was rather large for the small town. It held a large mall, an ice rink, and a movie theater. Inside the mall was an arcade that always seemed to be filled with children and teens, he knew how crowded it could get with himself having visited the arcade a few times with Keigo. There was a supermarket across the street from the mall and a laundromat down the street. The main shopping district was large because of the influx of tourist they've been getting as of late. It had been that way since Don Kinoji, a TV star who has been known to claim to be able to vanquish ghosts, had risen in popularity. The rising ratings of his show had garnered a lot of attention. It seems that people loved to see a haunted town.

He was halfway to the shopping district when a sudden pain flared in his head. A sharp twinge pulsed in his temples and it caused Ichigo stagger. Knocking into a few people Ichigo managed to lean against a building. Frowning when the pain went away Ichigo shook his head and pushed himself away from the building and growled when he noticed the looks he was receiving. He cursed silently before continuing down the street. The intersection was coming up and he couldn't afford to be distract. Just as he took a step into the middle of the street a jarring screech filled Ichigo's mind. The insane laughter reverberated in his eardrums causing him to stumble backwards. The pain situated itself in his temples. A scream tore through his throat as he fell to his knees. Ichigo opened his eyes to a bright light. The headlights to the oncoming car, he was frozen with fear and unable to move. The honking of the car horn and screaming of the passing people did nothing to help him. A rush of air was the only warning he received before the car was upon him.

"You can open your eyes now"

Blinking rapidly Ichigo opened his eyes to see himself safely on the other side of the street. The honking of the car horn and the angry curses of the driver seemed distant. He could feel himself being pressed against someone's chest and he was beginning to get irritated when the person didn't let go.

"Kugo Ginjo" The voice was deep and had a strange accented undertone.

Ichigo looked up to see who the hell was still holding into him. The man was tall, Ichigo having to look up to catch his eyes. He had a built frame large muscles and a slim waist, his black hair was slicked back and curled at the end against his neck. Ichigo pressed his hands against the man's chest trying to break out of his hold. His efforts were wasted as the arm around his waist tightened its hold. His other hand pressed Ichigo against his chest holding him there.

"Let go." he growled through clenched teeth.

"I don't think I will." The man said entirely to cheerily.

Ichigo growled when he was cradled against the man and dragged into a nearby alley.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ichigo asked, again struggling in the man's hold. He let out a breath of air when he suddenly felt weightless. Looking behind him he was surprised to see the top of the Karakura shopping center. The man continued to leap from building to building sometimes running on air itself.

"I've been watching you for a while." the statement was unexpected and confused Ichigo. _What the hell was going on?  
_  
"You're really interesting. Do you want to fight me?"

"What the fuck are you talking about."

He was getting mad now. He was abducted by some strange man who apparently wants to fight him. How was this man doing what he was doing anyway, could be a soul reaper like Rukia.

He didn't have time to think further on that before he was being tossed to the ground. Looking around he saw that they were once again in another alley.

He had no warning before Kugo was upon him. The punch to the head was jarring and he was momentarily stunned before a punch to the chest dropped him to his knees. A kick to the chest and he was on the floor. Ichigo rolled to the side quickly to avoid getting his head stomped on. He was wheezing and air didn't seem to reach his lungs. Quickly getting up on shaky legs he brought his arms up in time to block a fist to the face but he was left vulnerable to get hit in the ribs. The pain in his side broke his feeble concentration.

Never in all his fights had he felt something like this. A couple of bruises and the occasional split lip but never this. His ribs ached and a steady stream of blood flowed from his eyebrow. His face was scraped up and he could feel a large bruise developing on his chest.

That wasn't even the worst thing.

The larger man was toying with him. Ichigo knew that without a formal training he wouldn't stand a chance against Kugo but the man seemed to be pulling his punches. Each blow was devastating but on some level Ichigo knew Kugo wasn't trying his hardest to fight him.

Ichigo was abruptly brought out of his thinking by a front kick to his chest. The force of the kick sent him flying in to a bunch of garbage cans. A groan of pain left Ichigo's mouth as he rolled over, something definitely felt broken.

His neck snapped forward as a chunk of his hair was grabbed. His bruised hands came up to grab the strands in hopes of alleviating the pressure. A strangled screech left his mouth as he was dragged across the ground by his hair. He felt the rough concrete scrape against his back and little shards of glass get embedded in his skin.

He struggled uselessly to get out of Kugo's hold. A bit of panic wormed it's way into his conscious.

"Let go of me!" his voice was pitched in desperation.

He was pulled up roughly and shoved against the brick wall of the building. A small scream broke through bloody lips. The pebbles and glass were pushed further into his skin and any other grime from the ground. A large hand clamped around his throat he grabbed the hands in an effort to push him off. Ichigo was pulled up roughly against the building further shredding the skin on his back. He scrambled to find some purchase against the ground but was alarmed to find none. He was now level with Kugo's eyes and the gleam in the brown eyes surprised him. Disappointment was the main emotion that was discernible.

"I thought you'd be better Ichi, what happened to all the fire from yesterday?" Kugo's tone was sad.

_What was he talking about?_

Ichigo had the distinct feeling that he was missing something.

The only thing that happened yesterday was a fight with a hollow.

"I'll see yah later Ichi!" Then he was gone.

_Seriously what the fuck just happened?_

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

After stumbling home in pain, Ichigo realized he never got the bleach. He was tired, hurt, and angry he really didn't feel like dealing with any crap.

"Ichiiiiiigooooooooo."

He sidestepped Isshin's attack and continued on the way to his room. Yuzu's shocked gasps did nothing to deter him. When a hand clamped onto his shoulder he was so close to beating the shit out of whoever it was. Though he knew that it was Isshin because his sisters weren't talk enough to grab his shoulder. Reigning in his temper he turned slowly to face his _f__ather_.

"What do you want?" he spoke through clenched teeth.

Isshin's uncharacteristic serious face told it Ichigo it was going to be one of _those_ moments. He didn't even try to resist when he was dragged into the clinic. He watched impassively as his father out on latex gloves and pulled out tweezers and a metal pan. Ichigo sat down on a stool that Isshin gestured towards. He sat immobile as Isshin cut his shirt off with a pair of scissors. He felt dispassionate that he just lost his favorite shirt.

The next few moments were filled with Ichigo's pained grunts and the methodical pinging noise of glass and rock hitting the metal pan.

It was moments like this, the silent understanding, that had been happening since the visit to his mother's grave a month ago. Isshin had been paying attention to him. Talking about school and Ichigo's interests. He would sometimes talk about his time with Masaki before their marriage.

They had met when Isshin moved to Karakura from Tokyo. Isshin had just begun working in a hospital when she was brought in for a broken arm and he was lucky enough to treat her that day.

Ichigo enjoyed hearing those stories but he always felt something was being left out or the story was being twisted. It was unsettling to see his father trying so hard after years of ignoring him.

Ichigo frowned when he heard Isshin move away from him. His wounds were free everything and all he had to do was wash it out. He turned to face him when he heard Isshin clear his throat, he was unsurprised to see him smoking a cigarette. Isshin had once told him that when he and his mother first met, his mother thought he looked cool when he smoked that sentiment had changed when Ichigo was born.

"I know what has been going on Ichigo." Calm, he sounded far too calm.

"I don't know what you're talking about." avoid the situation if necessary.

He caught the disbelief in Isshin's eyes. It looked like they weren't going to avoid the situation.

Isshin blew out smoke slowly. The air becoming hazy and stifling. "I once worked for the shinigami." he looked away from Ichigo to stare at the smoke twisting in the air.

Ichigo nodded he already knew his father had been or still was a shinigami. The spiritual energy the man possessed was small but the aura was there.

"You don't really seem surprised." Ichigo didn't justify that with an answer. He knew what Isshin was getting at.

"I can't help you."

"You never were able to help me." Ichigo peeked at Isshin through his bangs. Unsatisfied at the lack of emotion on Isshin's face.

"I can't help you, but I know someone who will."

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

Ichigo quickly left after talking to Isshin. The address Isshin had given him was one he did not know. He would have to see after school. He didn't have to go see Uruhara until Thursday so he needed to speak to this man Isshin wanted him to meet.

He also knew that he would be seeing Kugo again sometime this week. The man was an unknown and displayed abilities that were strange. He noticed when Kugo had been running in the air a faint trail of spiritual energy gathered at his feet. The man wasn't a shinigami. His spiritual energy felt darker than Rukia's and Uruhara's but it also felt lighter than any of the hollows he faced. If the energies were put in terms of colors shinigamis would be white and hollows black, Kugo's energy is a dark gray in comparison.

A scowl formed on Ichigo's lips as he thought of their fight. _No it wasn't a fight_ he scoffed thinking to himself. He hadn't thrown any punches and he definitely was the only one walking away with wounds. In a sick sort of way it was humbling for him to lose a fight if only to show that he needed to practice more. Then again he was also disgusted. In both his lack of abilities and how dirty losing really was. He could still feel whatever was on the ground and in that garbage crawling on his skin.

He exhaled sharply before getting up to gather his things to shower. He opened the door to his closet and nearly had an aneurysm when he saw Rukia sleeping in there.

_Couldn't he get a fucking break?_

* * *

Hiya everyone. Here is the latest chapter. I hoped you enjoyed really was difficult to write for some reason.

Can anyone guess who Ichigo is going to see?

Well if there are an questions, comments, concerns feel free to drop a review or pm me.


	5. The Wheels Start Turning

Everything Falls Apart

Chapter 5 - The Wheels Start Turning

Chapter 5 Start

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

"Gooooooood Moooooorning Ichigoooooo!" Isshin's exuberant scream echoed throughout the house.

Ichigo yawned and moved to the side to avoid Isshin's flying kick. He ducked as Isshin landed and tried to roundhouse kick him.

"You've learned well Ichigo!" Isshin screamed once again as he did another flying kick. Unfortunately for him Ichigo moved so Isshin flew down the stairs. A few seconds later Ichigo heard Isshin's distinct cries as he talked to the Masaki poster. Groaning Ichigo stretched and began walking down the hall to the bathroom.

It was a typical morning and Isshin was back to his goofy self. Ichigo knew that if Isshin was truly trying all of those kicks would have hit him. It annoyed him that Isshin would be holding back and it pleased him to know Isshin wasn't so deranged as to hurt him.

Ichigo locked the bathroom door behind him before turning on the taps in the bathtub. He pulled the plug in the bath to turn on the shower and waited for the water to heat up. Turning away he opened the bathroom cabinet and pulled out his toothpaste and toothbrush and brushed his teeth quickly and efficiently. Spitting out the excess toothpaste he reached underneath the cabinet to get his mouthwash. He gargled for the designated time, by the time he was done he began undressing and then stepped into the warm water spraying from the shower head.

This was part of his daily routine that he did since he was ten years old. When he was younger he didn't really have an orderly way of doing things and after _that time_ he changed. He became more calm and more collected. His friends often said he became a neat freak but he didn't think so. He felt that the order kept him sane. It was something he could control and after his mothers death, control was something he needed.

The shower was relaxing, the warm water soothed his tense muscles and soothed his aching head. The nightmare he had suffered from kept him from going back to sleep. He up since one o'clock in the morning. Echoing laughter and screeching voices reverberated in his head. A voice he heard a lot during his childhood before _that time_ had taken care of it. He wasn't sure what brought it back now.

He washed his hair with his vanilla shampoo and then used the vanilla conditioner and the. Washed with the vanilla body wash. He tried to stay away from anything strawberry scented and ended up with this when he asked Yuzu for help. It didn't matter anymore as it had become part of his routine. He reached out of the shower and got the shaving cream and his razor. He shaved his arms, armpits and legs. After watching a documentary on body hair he never got over it. Although the decision was more personal, believe it or not his hair was actually orange, or strawberry blonde to the doctors. It was a nice enough color on his head but when he had light orange hair covering his arms and legs. He was glad he had yet to grow facial and chest hair.

With that all done he dried himself wrapped a towel around his waist. He then bent over to dig in the cabinet underneath the sink to get his deodorant and lotion. He applied both items and pulled on his school uniform. He was brushing his hair when he noticed it was longer than usual, he sighed he would have to get a hair cut soon. He put all his items in their usual spots and picked up his clothes and towel. Giving the bathroom a once over to the see if anything was out of order, when he saw nothing out of place he turned and pulled open the door and was punched in the chest. Right in front of him stood Karin hand poised to knock but ended up hitting him since he pulled open the door. She looked tired and her black hair was in a disarray her face was expressionless as it was most days unless she was angry.

Karin took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest with a frown on her face. "You take longer than any girl I know." she said dryly

Ichigo scowled and ruffled her hair, something she hated, and walked past her before she could retaliate. The tell tale slam of the bathroom door made him smile.

When he went back in his room Rukia was sitting on his bed. He let her sleep in his closet last night after she told him she didn't have a place to stay. He had told her they were going to find some place because she couldn't stay in his room and he wasn't sure if Rukia knew that Isshin use to be a Soul Reaper. He shut the door behind him and sat on the chair at his desk.

He shivered a bit when a gust of wind came through his open window. He looked over at Rukia and noticed that she was wearing a dark blue dress. It was odd in this weather and he wondered if she was affected by the cold in her gigai. The false body didn't seem to be entirely human as she was able to cast a few kido on hollows.

"I suspect one of the captains will be showing up sometime next month to check up on me." her voice was sullen and didn't match the normally exuberant personality she displayed.

Ichigo sighed "What are you talking about?"

She stiffened her jaw was tight with anxiety and he wasn't really sure what was wrong with her. "I was deployed out here to eradicate a hollow. The time frame for this particular mission is two months and a three weeks have already elapsed since I've been here."

"Why are you worried, can't you explain what happened to your captain?" he asked

Ichigo watched as she shuffled around a bit then pulled Her knees up to her chest. Ichigo grimaced when he saw her shoes were still on. He clenched his hands into fists and waited patiently for her to speak. He caught her gaze when she looked directly at him.

"It's illegal to give your spiritual powers to a human." She whispered twisting her hands in her dress and turned away from him and turned towards the window.

Ichigo frowned and looked away from her now trembling form. "If you knew what was going to happen why did you do it?"

He waited an looked back at her, Rukia didn't look like she was going to answer. She still gazed steadfastly out the window as her hands clenched and unclenched the fabric of her dress. Ichigo didn't understand why Rukia would trade so much to save a couple of people she didn't know.

Angry, Rukia swirled back around to face him with a sneer on her lips."It is my duty as a Soul Reaper to destroy hollows no matter the cost. I couldn't defeat that hollow so I gave you my powers in order for it to be defeated. What I did was illegal but I do not regret that decision." She snarled.

Ichigo didn't say anything to that. He was shocked though to see tears well up in her eyes. She ducked her head down to block his view of her face. He could see the tension as she clutched the dress tighter in her hands.

Her voice was small when she spoke again. "I don't understand why my powers won't return. It's been a week already and it still hasn't replenished."

He looked at the crying girl in pity. He couldn't do anything to help her other than complete her duty while she was out of commission. Ichigo watched as she continued to cry. He watched her awkwardly he wasn't used to people comforting people as they cried. He sighed and got up from his desk chair and sat on the bed next to the weeping girl. Awkwardly he put his hand around her shoulder and held her against him. He was out of his element and didn't know how to handle the situation.

He sat there uncomfortably while she let out all her sorrow.

Ichigo cleared his throat and tried to comfort her."You know, your not so bad once you get over your attitude."

He paused when the Rukia tensed up next to him.

"You're a jerk!" she screeched at him punching him in his side.

Rukia pushed away from him and went to climb out the window, she stopped and sat on the windowsill her hair covering her face. Nothing was said as she sat there with the wind ruffling her hair slightly. A strong gust of wind blew and pushed her hair out of her face and Ichigo got a brief glimpse of the smile on her lips.

"Thanks." Then she was gone.

Ichigo went over to the window and shut it. Getting up he went to the corner of his room to pick up his bag and walked out the room shutting the door behind him. A moment later he came back and stripped the sheets off the bed and stuffed them into the laundry basket.

*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*

The air was frigid as it blew heavily, the trees were looking especially barren that morning. It wasn't that far into autumn and it was already looking like it was about to snow. Ichigo wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck as he walked to school. He was freezing his ass off in the early morning chill and he really wished his school wasn't so far away. He didn't even understand how girls were able to wear skirts in this weather and not be on the verge of hypothermia. A normal half an hour walk to school felt so much longer as he froze to death on the way there. Once the building came into view he sped up hoping to get warm before classes began.

He walked into the building and saw Keigo sitting on one of the benches. The normally active teen was sitting there calmly. It wasn't unusual there were times when Keigo could be serious. Without a word Ichigo sat down next to his friend. The pair sat there silently for a few minutes listening to the wind whistling in the halls. Keigo usually wasn't sullen but it did happen on occasion. An occasion that became more frequent as of late. Every time that happened Ichigo was the one that saw through the happy front he put on in between those moments.

During the summer it had gotten to the point where Ichigo would have Keigo over at his house just to see the endless bags underneath his eyes go away. They had become closer during that time but now Keigo was back to putting his hyperactive front back on that irritated Ichigo to no end. With a sigh, Ichigo chose that time to observe the sullen brown haired boy. His keen eyes took in the bags underneath his eyes and the bruising the collar of his shirt couldn't hide. He watched his friend until he turned to look at him. He held Keigo's stare not backing down from the wariness in his eyes.

"You can tell me when you're ready."

"Ichigo..."

He looked sharply at the teen. "Only when you're ready." He emphasized before turning away.

Keigo let out an odd noise it was between a cough and a sob. When he spoke his voice was gravelly.

"Thanks."

He was vaguely reminded of his earlier encounter with Rukia and nodded his head. They sat there warming up and waiting for everyone else to show up. He was reminded of how cold it was when Tatsuki, Inoue, and Chizuru walked in together, each of them wearing pants. He was glad they were smarter than the other girls in school.

"Good morning Kurosaki-kun." Inoue's cheerful exclamation seemed to perk Keigo up as he jumped out of his seat to monopolize her attention.

He watched dully as Chizuru snuck up behind her and wrapped her arms around Inoue's waist, trying to cup her breasts. Tatsuki noticing what was going on pulled Chizuru off of her and push Keigo away from Inoue. The three of them bickered as Inoue stood there confused and trying to break it up before they began to fight.

That went on for a while before they began laughing and talking about after school plans which reminded Ichigo of his own plans. He had to meet this mystery man and see if he could help him. Isshin hadn't given a name. There was an address written on the paper. Ichigo was still slightly upset that the man didn't even include directions.

"How bout it Ichigo, you coming?"

He watched his friends hopeful expressions was a little mad that he couldn't go. He shook his head and felt a twinge in his chest at their crestfallen expressions.

"I'll be free tomorrow." Ichigo said hoping to get rid of those expressions.

The hopeful expressions on his friends face tore at Ichigo a little bit. He didn't think he blew them off often but their faces told him otherwise.

"Good morning everyone!"

Ichigo turned to see Rukia strolling in with Chad and Mizuiro by her side. Mizuiro was playing with his PSP. A new gadget he probably will spend forever breaking in. Chad was silent next to them and just raised his hand in greeting instead of verbalizing it. He nodded to them swiping his hair back when it fell into his eyes.

Ichigo noticed that Rukia had changed from the dress she was wearing in the morning into an outfit similar to Tatsuki. He had a sneaking suspicion that she 'borrowed' that particular outfit from one of his sisters but couldn't truly say anything about it.

Uninterested in further conversation Ichigo closed his eyes to wait for the bell. It wasn't unusual for them to be in school far earlier than what was needed but it was times like this that he wished he slept in. He often fell into bouts of indifference where he couldn't bring himself to care for a lot of things. The last time it had happened his grades managed to slip bringing his ranking down to twenty fifth in his class. It was one of the only times Isshin actually showed interest in Ichigo's schooling. Although it took a call from the guidance counselor for him to know.

He wasn't so sullen most of the time and he had noticed that his mood was slipping for the past two weeks. He was able to pull out of it but it seemed to be harder for him now. He sighed, something he seemed to be doing a lot, and tilted his head back to rest against the wall. The chattering of his friend faded into the background as he tried to tune it out. The beeping of Mizuiro's game brought him out of his daze. He didn't even notice when the smaller teen came to sit next to him.

Mizuiro was an enigma to him. The silent teen didn't speak often preferring to immerse himself in his electronics. He wasn't shy but wasn't outgoing. It was actually one of the things that drew Ichigo to him when they first met.

A little over two years ago, he and Chad had prevented Mizuiro and Keigo from being jumped. Seeing that Chad and Ichigo were strong Keigo had boldly declared that they were going to be friends. The whole time it was happening Mizuiro didn't even look swayed.

Ichigo had been watching them before he and Chad had stepped in. While Keigo was cowering away from the bigger teens, Mizuiro stood his ground not paying attention and dutifully typing away on his phones keypad. The small black haired teen was always like that. Never intimidated by anything. He admired that Mizuiro had a hold on his emotion where as he was quick to act in anger.

Opening his eyes he glanced down as Mizuiro's rapidly moving fingers. "What are you playing?"

Ichigo looked up and caught him looking at him from the corner of his eyes fingers not once stopping.

"Half Minute Hero." He didn't say anything else preferring to finish playing his game.

He looked pensively at the teen as Mizuiro continued to play his game. He was thinking of something else to say when Mizuiro began to laugh. "Don't...try...so hard." he gasped out in between his laughs.

The others came over to see what they were talking about. Ichigo was glad when the bell rang in the same moment. Picking up his stuff he walked towards the classroom.

*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*

The school day was long and Ichigo was glad the final bell rang just moments ago. He strolled out the doors of the school building, tightening his jacket as a gust of frigid air hit him. He could hear the playful shouts of his friends going off to the arcade as he headed in the other direction towards his house. He hoped Isshin was working in the clinic when he got there. Usually Kurosaki clinic had a lot of patients during this season. A lot more children got sick during early fall thinking they could get away without wearing jackets. He use to be like that when he was younger but after getting sick one too many times he had gotten over that way of thinking.

He slowed down his pace the closer he got to his house. He had gotten the directions he needed to visit the man in Kitakawse district. It was a forty five minute bus and train ride to Kitakawase from Minamikawase, the district he lived in. If he left at five o'clock the timing between the train and the bus wouldn't be more than half am out apart as opposed to an hour if he left at another time. He sped up and quickly got to his house. He had three hours before he had to leave and he needed to do the homework he didnt finish at lunch.

Once inside the house he was disappointed to see Isshin in the living room. He walked by quickly hoping the man wouldnt want to speak to him. He walked to behind the couch to the stairs hoping to make it up to his room.

"Ichigo" Isshin called amusement coloring his tone "When you change come downstairs and sit with me."

Ichigo frowned and nodded his head and run the rest of the way to his room. Once inside he closed the door behind him and leaned against it. He had no inkling as to what Isshin wanted to speak about. He sighed and knocked his head against the door before gathering his clothes to change. He swapped his uniform pants and shirt for a pair of loose black jeans and a black shirt. The orange haired teen stood in the middle of the room wanting to delay talking to Isshin and wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible. With a scowl he made up his mind and went downstairs he walked around the couch so he didn't have to walk in front of Isshin. He sighed and plopped down next him.

"I sensed that girl from earlier." Isshin turned towards Ichigo after shutting off the TV.

Ichigo kept his eyes on the blank screen watching Isshin from the reflection. "So?"

"She's the one who gave you her powers."

Ichigo didn't answer, Isshin didn't ask him anything.

"Did she tell you which captain sent her here?"

"No. Why?" Ichigo asked he was beginning to suspect Isshin knew something. What wasn't he telling him.

Isshin held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Nothing, nothing." He said standing up and heading out the living room, possibly to go back to the clinic, he paused at the door. "Just stay safe Ichigo."

Ichigo frowned and looked at the time. He still had over two hours left. He got off the couch and went back in his room setting up his text books on his desks and began his history homework. An hour passed quickly as he finished his history and math homework.

"Hey Ichigo!"

Ichigo looked around the room and spotted Kon on underneath some of his books. He had forgotten about the stuffed lion and didn't mean to crush him underneath his books.

"Jeez I've been calling you for an hour!" The stuffed animal whined.

"Sorry about that I didn't see you." Ichigo said.

Kon blushed, or what Ichigo thought was a blush. "Well you should be."

Ichigo nodded and packed up his stuff. He had and hour to spare. He went in his closet and pulled out extra sheets to put on his bed. After spreading it he laid down and prepared to take a nap.

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo groaned and tiredly opened his eyes. He did t remember falling asleep and he sure as hell did t remember falling asleep with Kon in his arms. A clearing of a throat made him look up.

"Dad said you had somewhere to go."

Karin gave reproachful look as she glanced at the stuffed animal still in his arms. She snorted before waking out his room shutting the door behind her.

"Kon! What the hell?" He asked throwing the lion across the room.

With a huff he stood up and grabbed his jacket. He looked at the clock and cursed he had five minutes to catch his bus.

*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*

Ichigo watched impassively as the bus passed another building and Karakura General Hospital. The bus he was on would take him to the last stop, just outside of Kitakawase, where he would then take a train to his destination. The man he was supposed to meet lived in the heart of Kitakawase where there were no bus stops.

"Last stop." A mechanical voice chimed over the bus intercom.

When the bus came to a halt Ichigo stuffed his hands into his pocket and began walking to the train station. Kitakawase was a beautiful district, there were more homes and parks than in Minamikawase district, the district he lived in. The homes were larger and much more extravagant. The only public transportation was the train, there use to be bus routes that went through this district but they were taken out when richer homes were put in.

The walk to the train station was short and boring. There wasn't anyone on the streets and it felt desolate. Ichigo went inside the ticket station, it was an old building made of faded red bricks. The inside of the station wasn't large it had four benches one on each glass wall and two that were back to back placed in the middle of the room. There was a mother and her daughter sitting on left side of the room on the bench closest to the only vending machine.

Ichigo walked over to the ticket booth of the room and checked the time for his train. He only had to wait thirty minutes before the next one came, he waited behind a man with chin length blond hair. The man bought a ticket for the same train Ichigo was taking. He ran a hand through his hair as he waited for the man to be done when he moved away Ichigo went and purchased his ticket he sat on bench facing the blond haired man who sat on the right side of the room near the door. The time passed slowly and if he paid close attention he could hear the music the man was listening to.

He stared out of the glass wall and watched the wind blow the leafless branches on the tree's. Soon a captain of the soul society would be coming to check up on Rukia. She could be in a lot of trouble for giving her powers to him but the fact that she wasn't regaining her own was a cause for concern. He thought about what he learned from Urahara during the talk they had on Saturday. If Rukia never regained her abilities they couldn't be too sure what would happen to her. He didn't even know what would happen to himself. It was illegal for a shinigami to give their powers to a human and they would get sentenced for doing it but it didn't say what would happen to the human. Would he also get sentenced? Would he get executed?

The thoughts swirling in his head gave him a headache. So he turned his attention to the time. He still had eight minutes before the train was due to arrive. He looked around the room and saw that the woman and her child was gone. He stood up and walked out the station to stand on the terminal. The minutes passed quickly and them the train was coming in. He walked on and took a seat, he looked out the window and saw that the man had fallen asleep. He waited to see if he would get up when he didn't. He got up and jogged over to him well aware that the train was leaving in five minutes.

"Hey, the train is here." When he didn't respond he began shaking him. "C'mon, get up" he shook him harder. The man stirred and sat up blearily. "Come on." he looked as if he didn't understand what was going on. The last call sounded as he finally understood. With a curse Ichigo turned and ran back over to the train.

"Shit!"

The last call sounded again and the doors began to close. The blond haired man managed to slide in before the doors closed completely.

Out of breath the man slumped heavily on the seat. The man appeared to be a few inches taller than Ichigo. He chin length blond hair was more vibrant in the natural light. His blonde bang that completely covered his forehead and slightly covered his eyes, which were closed as the man caught his breath. He had on black skinny jeans, a black shirt, black jacket, and a piano key tie.

Ichigo looked away as the man caught him staring.

"Thanks for waking me. I tend to fall asleep if I have to wait long." The voice was a pitch higher that he thought it would be but it suited the man more than the deep voiced he imagined.

"No problem." It really wasn't a problem. He looked back towards the man. He had a wide grin on his face and his chocolate brown eyes were shining.  
The man scooted down a couple of seats until he sat across from Ichigo, leaning forward holding out his hand. "The names Hirako Shinji. What's yours?"

He took the hand and shook it. Hazel eyes narrowed to slits when a tingle raced up his arm when their hands connected. "Kurosaki Ichigo."

He put on an impassive mask when Shinji gave a piano tooth smile. Ichigo turned away from Shinji and looked out the window. He felt the spiritual energy in Shinji's hand. He wasn't sure what Shinji was trying to do but he knew it wouldn't end well.

He didn't bother to look over at Shinji as the train filled up. Several stops later the train was crowded and Shinji somehow ended up next him. Two stops later

Ichigo was getting off the train. He didn't spare Shinji a second glance as he sauntered off he terminal and onto the streets.

He walked several blocks, noticing the houses getting larger day block he crossed. He was glad that he decided to get directions before leaving he house. The house he was looking for turned out to be a modern mansion. The large expanse of lawn was bordered by flowers and shrubs and just before the mansion were two large trees whose branches crossed overhead. It was picturesque an almost looked like some sort of gate. Taking a deep breath Ichigo walked up the driveway and knocked on the door.

A few seconds passed before the door was opened he felt the slightest bit self conscious in front of the man who answered the door. He was taller than himself was wearing a black suit,a teal dress shirt and a light blue tie. The man's silver hair hung on the sides of his face and stopped at his neck in the back. Sharp blue eyes hidden behind frame less glasses bore into Ichigo as he stood nervously in front of the man.

"I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, I was sent by my father Kurosaki Isshin to meet you."

The man gave Ichigo and appraising look. "Yes, I was informed that you would be stopping by today." he took a step back an made a sweeping gesture. "Please come in."

Ichigo nodded and stepped inside. The foyer was large but dark. It was painted dark blue. He shrugged of his coat an the man took it and hung it up. He then traded his shoes for slippers and followed the man down the hall.

Many of the doors in the hall were closed except for one that appeared to be a parlor.

The room was tastefully decorated with various pieces of art in the walls. The room was painted in hues of red but predominantly burgundy. In the corner of the room was a grand piano near large bay windows. The curtains weren't drawn so light filtered into the room and shone on the large bookcases dominated most of the room. In the center of the room were two maroon settees lined in gold on either sides of a coffee table.

"Sit down Ichigo, we have much to discuss."

He sat on one of the settees amazed at how soft the cushions were. He waited while the man brought over a tea set and sat down, in his opinion, elegantly with his legs crossed.

"Ishida Ryuken" he said offering Ichigo a cup of tea. "Your father asked me to teach you."

Ichigo nodded unsure how the man would help. His color wasn't white like a Soul Reapers. The color was a light blue.

"If you cannot tell I am not a Soul Reaper nor am I a hollow." he said unknowingly answering Ichigo's unspoken question. "I'm one of the last few Quincy in existence."

"Quincy?"

"Yes Quincy. My race is almost never brought up with the Soul Reapers." Ryuken stopped speaking and brought the cup to his lips, taking a slow sip. "Too much bad blood I suppose." he continue after a moment.

"How can you help me?" Ichigo asked then cringed as it sounded a bit rude.

"Ah, the million dollar question. How _can_ I help you?" He smirked a bit behind his tea cup. "It's quite simple Ichigo."

Ichigo was confused when Ryuken didn't offer anything else. He didn't know much about Quincies so he didn't actually know how Ryuken could help.

"I don't know sir." he offered politely when nothing else came to mind.

Ryuken stood and walked over to one of the bookcases. Ichigo's eyes followed as Ryuken trailed his fingers across the book spines before plucking one off the shelf.

He walked back to Ichigo and tossed the book at him. Ichigo caught it before it hit him in the face. He looked at the cover of the book and written on the front was simply Quincy. He looked up at Ryuken in a silent question.

"Take it with you and read it." he waved his hand at the book and resumed drinking a new cup of tea.

"I don't understand why. I'm leanring to be a Soul Reaper not a Quincy."

"What you are does not forgive being ignorant of history." Ryuken's tone was harsh and Ichigo felt like he made a mistake.

"Okay. Thanks." he added the thanks as an afterthought.

Ryuken stood up and beckoned Ichigo to follow him. "We will go down to my underground training facility. I will test you to see what level you are at."

They walked down the end of the hall. Ichigo watched as Ryuken placed his hand against the wall. The hand glowed a light blue as reiatsu was sent to it. A moment later the wall parted and a long stair case appeared. They began their descent down the barely illuminated steps. The torches that lines the wall offered very poor lighting.

At the end of the stair was a large room easily twice the size of the mansion. The room was made of stone and completely empty. Ryuken walked out to the middle of the training room and Ichigo trailed behind him.

"When we are in this room I want nothing but the utmost respect. As of right now you will call me Meister Ryuken."

The unfamiliar term confused him but he agreed nonetheless. The man was taking time out to train him and he wasn't going to be ungrateful. Ryuken pulled out a blue pill and tossed it to Ichigo which he swallowed. The surge of spiritual pressure pushed his spirit body out of his human body, which fell to the floor with a dull thump. Ichigo picked up his body and moved it out of the way.

Once done he moved back to the middle of the room to face Meister Ryuken.

"I want you to attack me using your zanpakuto."

Ichigo nodded and pulled his sword off his back. He watched as the man did t move of take out any weapon. Sighing he ran forward, he noticed that he was much faster in his spirit body than his human one. Just before he reached his target he jumped up in the air and swung his sword in a downward swing. He was shocked to be stopped by Meister Ryuken stopping the blade in between two fingers.

"That" Ryuken twisted his fingers sharply against the sword "Is not a zanpakuto."

Ichigo watched in dismay as the sword shattered, tiny shards of silver glittered in the air before falling to the ground with tiny tinkling noises. The only part remaining was the hilt in his hand.

"Pathetic."

The shards of his sword crunched loudly underneath Ryuken's dress shoes. The sound of footsteps faded away and the distant sound of a shutting door reverberated in the underground arena. In the rubble of his ruined weapon Ichigo sat embarrassed at his failure. He was disgusted when he felt tears stinging the corners of his eyes. He was further mortified when shudders racked his frame.

He grit his teeth and clutched the hilt of the broken sword which began to slowly knit back together. He knew he was new to this but he didn't realize how weak he truly was. Was that the power of a Quincy?

He waited until his sword reformed to merge back with his body. He then slowly walked back up the stairs. He walked until he passed by another opened door. It was the entrance to a dining room. The dining table was set with rich foods that would normally be seen in restaurants. He looked around to see where Ryuken was and saw that this room had a door connected to the parlor. Another door opened and Ichigo assumed that it was the kitchen.

"Sit down Ichigo."

They sat at the dinner table together. It was a little awkward because of the silence. Usually at home Isshin could never shut up and always tried to engage Yuzu and Karin in conversation.

Ichigo looked up at the man through the cover of his hair. The stern looking man ate slowly in controlled movements. He wondered if the man was disappointed in him. Ichigo ate slowly staring down at his plate. He looked up when he heard Ryuken clear his throat.

"We will meet the same time next week. I'll have my driver take you home."

*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*

The ride back home was quick and it didn't give Ichigo enough time to sort through his thoughts. When the driver pulled up to the clinic he gave his thanks

and climbed out. The lights were off and he knew it was pass his curfew. He grumbled a bit as he unlocked the door and made his way to his room in the dark. He flicked on the light and went to his closet to grab his night clothes. He groaned a bit when he saw Rukia once more curled up in his closet. With a sigh he went and grabbed his things and shut the door back.

After showering and doing his routine he came back and pushed Kon off his pillow and went to sleep. Thoughts of his failure chased after him.  
The next two days went the same way. He spent all day sulking about failing, fought hollows, and hung out with his friends. On Thursday morning Ichigo trudged slowly to the park. The day was warmer than any other so far. The sun was actually out today and it made Ichigo feel a bit better. He was meeting up with his friends because school was closed today. It had something to do with a teacher conference.

"Ichigoooo!"

Keigo's distinct whine made him look up. Ahead of him Mizuiro, Chizuru, Chad and Keigo were sitting on a bench with various foods spread on it.  
"What's going on?" he asked as he jogged up to them.

"We needed to talk and Keigo felt it was best to speak over food." Chizuru chimed in.

Keigo spluttered behind her and then they began arguing. Mizuiro laughed and waved him over to sit down. It was odd to see the small teen without an electronic device.

"Truly, we wanted to talk about some weird things that have been happening." Mizuiro said gesturing to the whole group. Instantly everyone calmed and took on a serious expression.

Ichigo nodded. This was a conversation waiting to happen.

*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*

* * *

Well, I am sorry. this chapter is a week late. I'm sorry once again. I rewrote this chapter six times and this is my final product.

Now my dear readers something has been brought to my mind as I have been writing this chapter.

I dont think I want this to be GrimmIchi. Sorry but I have been thinking maybe Ichikei, GinjoIchi, RenIchi, KenIchi, or ShiroIchi. Now this is where I really need your input readers. Tell what you like you can suggest other Ichigo pairings. I can create any pairing with Ichigo at this point but I need to know before I get further into the story. Thank you readers.

As always. Any questions, comments, concerns feel free to review or PM me.


	6. 15 Steps

Holy hell what is this? An Update! Seriously?

So Welcome Back. Im so sorry for the long wait but I had some stuff going on. None of it was pretty. sooooo get to the good stuff. Oh yeah I chose IchiKei. I really wanted to do this pairing.

Warnings- Prostitute somehwere in here. Keigos dad being an ass. General choppiness as all my chapters are written in parts.

* * *

Everything Falls Apart

Chapter 6 - 15 steps

Chapter 6 Start

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

The wind blew softly through the trees, weakening leaves until they fell down in a flurry of russet, scarlet, and golden yellow. A cyclone of leaves blew through the open paths of the park, highlighting how isolated the park was. Ichigo sighed, after eating nobody wanted to talk. It seemed like no one wanted to be the first to say anything. With a groan Ichigo opened his mouth to break the ice.

"Tetsuo is dead!" Chizuru blurted out before he could say anything. Ichigo froze at her admission, he hadn't heard anything about that.

Ichigo frowned as he looked around the table everyone else was frozen in shock, they hadnt heard about it either. Momohara Tetsuo was a student in their only time Ichigo had ever talked to him was when he was turning down invitations to the karate club.

"How do you know." Mizuiro asked, calmly after the moment of silence.

"It was on the news this morning, they've been searching for a body for a week and they called of the search today declaring him dead." Chizuru fiddled with her glasses, a nervous habit she displayed in stressful situations.

Keigo cleared his throat catching everyone's attention."That doesn't mean he's dead, he could've run off. We don't know him." He murmured.

"It doesn't make sense though." Mizuiro said leaning forward on the table with his hands folded underneath his chin.

"What doesn't?" Chizuru asked.

"Tetsuo disappeared a day before Kuchiki-san was put into our class." Mizuiro said staring at Ichigo.

Ichigo scowled, it was a coincidence that the class had an opening just as Rukia enrolled, but it didn't make her a suspect. He didn't know what Mizuiro was trying to get at.

"She didn't do it." Ichigo muttered staring directly into the blue eyed teen across from him.

Mizuiro shifted, a smile creeping on his face. "I never said she did. Just that the circumstances are curious." He tilted his head to the side lying his head on one of his palms as waved his other hand towards Ichigo. "Don't you find it curious that she appears and then we lose a student while the town suddenly gets darker."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked glaring at the smaller teen.

"Don't beat around the bush Ichigo." Ichigo growled at Mizuiro's smirk.

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Keigo finally screeched, tired of being left in the dark.

"Yeah Ichigo, what are we talking about?" Mizuiro still had the infuriating smirk on his face. Ichigo clenched his fists in anger and glared at him.

Ichigo grimaced he knew he had to tell them but he felt reluctant to do it. He had a feeling that something bigger was going to happen and this was a defining moment. He could avoid this and lose two friends or he could tell them and change everything. Ichigo looked over at Chad and received an encouraging nod. He then turned to Chizuru who had a small smile on her lips. She enjoyed being friends all of them and if the group broke apart she would be devastated.

"Fine," Mizuiro's smirk transformed into a cheshire grin before he even finished saying the word. Ichigo rolled his eyes at the teen before continuing. "I guess the town seems darker because there are hollows here."

"Hollow?" Ichigo turned to look at Keigo who seemed a bit lost.

Ichigo frowned. "Have you ever seen a spirit before?" he asked Keigo and a glance at Mizuiro let him know he also had to answer the question.

"I have seen them, even more so since Chad brought his parakeet to school." Mizuiro answered calmly.

Keigo nodded in agreement. "I've seen them too for a few months now."

Chizuru chimed in taking over the explanation. "Well, hollows are bad spirits that eat good spirits, that are called wholes, and human spirits. That dark presence might be because there are more hollows appearing lately." She paused in thought for a moment before continuing. "I'm actually surprised you noticed."

Keigo tilted his head to side. "What do you mean, these 'hollows' have an obvious presence. It's kinda hard not to notice it."

"I think the more exposed to it you are, the more aware you become."

Keigo roughly ran his hands through his hair. "What causes us to become aware of it?" He questioned.

"Reiryoku." Chizuru simply stated. "Reiryoku is something that everyone has, but it all depends on how much you have that makes you spiritually aware, I have a theory about that actually. Our ability to see these spirits must correlate to the amount of Reiryoku, or spiritual pressure, we possess. The more spiritual power you possess the earlier your spiritual awareness would develop. If we were to put it in order, Ichigo would have the most and I would have the least." Chizuru stated.

"It also depends if you have a spiritually aware parent or sibling. Isshin has spiritual power, mine could have developed from him." Ichigo added.  
"Then wouldn't exposure to you raise our spiritual pressure?" Mizuiro asked.

Ichigo shrugged, Chad had been able to see spirits when they met and Chizuru only recently, he didn't think he had an affect on them. "I don't think so. It might be an innate ability."

Mizuiro knitted his brows together in thought. "Would you be able to obtain more spiritual power?"

"I thought about that too. I think it's like a muscle, the more you work it the stronger it gets." Ichigo was sure Urahara didn't mention any of that, if anything Urahara didn't talk about much. He wondered how Chizuru knew this much.

"I would figure that everyone has a limitation and a rate of development specifically for them." Chizuru continued after gathering her thoughts.

"Have you seen these 'hollows' before you met Rukia, Ichigo?" Keigo asked.

Ichigo rubbed his forehead in thought. "No, I saw my first one the night I met Rukia."

"Did she tell why she was sent here."

"Yeah," Chizuru agreed "I was wondering the same thing."

"Apparently a hollow managed to escape from Soul Society and came here, a captain sent her here to take care of it. A hollow escaping here rarely happens though."

"Then that doesn't make sense. Why would a hollow suddenly be able to escape here if they couldn't before."

"You're right." Ichigo said realizing something. "I was given a book where I read that there is a place where hollows reside. In a separate plane from our world, the human world, and Soul Society there is a place called Hueco Mundo."

"Hollow World." A deep gravelly voice spoke for the first time since they all sat down. They looked confused at Chad's seemingly random remark.  
"Hueco Mundo is spanish for Hollow World." he repeated to clear their confusion.

Ichigo nodded. "The hollows would need a way to get here from Hueco Mundo. I don't know of they can directly cross to here or if they have to go through Soul Society." Ichigo continued.

"You said that before. What is Soul Society and what does Rukia have to do with it?"

"Rukia is a shinigami or a soul reaper, a literal agent of death. She, and others like her, posses spiritual power that they use to fight hollows. It is used to form kido, energy based attacks, or with their zanpakuto. The shinigami live in the Soul Society with other spirits." Ichigo tried to explain.

"Tell us what happened with the hollow." Mizuiro asked.

"A week ago she was trying to stop this hollow but it defeated her and she gave me her powers do I could fight it for her, I defeated it but now she has only a little power left and I have to keep fighting these hollows until she regains her strength." Ichigo ran his hand through his hair tugging at the strands and groaned. " Im not explaining it well, but that's what happened."

"So you've essentially become a shinigami." Mizuiro scoffed when Ichigo nodded. He then looked around at everyone. "You know that is too coincidental to be normal."

"That's what I thought." Keigo stated. "Where were you when she gave you her powers." He asked turning to Ichigo.

"We were down the street from the clinic. She had appeared in my room before she ran out to fight the hollow."

"Did she have a device or say anything about tracking." Mizuiro asked.

Ichigo closed his eyes thinking back on that night. "She kept mumbling to herself so I didn't hear anything, but she did have a cellphone." He said opening his eyes.

"She could have been using it to communicate with whoever she worked for." Mizuiro added.

"Gotei 13." Ichigo said frowning.

Mizurio nodded and dug in his pocket pulling out his cellphone. He typed on it for a moment before flipping it closed. "When you get a chance see if she has a number."

"Why?" Chizuru looked outraged that he would ask that.

Mizuiro smiled at her. "I would be able to track her phone."

"That's illegal!" Chizuru screeched.

Ichigo sighed. "It might be illegal Chizuru but we don't know whats going on." Chizuru shot Ichigo a disapproving glare. "Would you rather we go into this blind?"

"No." She still looked mad.

"Something is happening and we need to be strong to face it." Chad said trying to calm her down.

"I know." Chizuru moaned in annoyance rubbing her hands on her face. "What about the other soul reaper, Urahara." She asked Ichigo.

The others turned to Ichigo. "He seems iffy, I don't trust him but i'm meeting him today." Ichigo paused for a moment wondering if he should bring up Ryuken. "I met another person but he isn't a soul reaper."

"Who?" Chizuru asked.

"Ishida Ryuken." He said puzzled when his friends let out startled gasps.

"Ishida?" Chizuru questioned in disbelief.

Ichigo mulled it over."Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's his last name. Why?"

"In our class there is a Ishida Uryu." Keigo answered.

"Maybe there is a familial connection, but that doesn't matter at the moment." Mizuiro said cutting off Keigo's next statement. "Ichigo you said Ishida-san wasnt a soul reaper." he prompted.

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, he is something called a Quincy, they are apparently in a fued against Soul Reapers, he gave me the book I told you about, he also agreed to train me."

Keigo snorted. "Why would he help you? You said that Quincies don't like Soul Reapers."

"I don't know." Ichigo answered truthfully.

A sudden beeping noise stopped any other conversation. Chizuru laughed and reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone. Frowning at the message she stood up from the table. "I have to go home. My violin lessons are starting soon." She said. "We'll talk more tomorrow."  
They all stood up and cleared the table of any garbage. Ichigo hadnt realized how long they were sitting there, his legs were numb from the cold and not moving. He looked at his watch ad saw that it was one o'clock , he had four more hours before he had to meet Urahara. Saying bye to Chizuru and Mizuiro, they were headed in the same direction. Chad, Keigo, and Ichigo walked off to go home. The trio walked in silence, leaving the park and heading toward the main street. The sound of giggling children and honking horns met their ears as they stepped out of the main gates of the park. Chad nodded to Keigo and Ichigo as he walked down a separate street.

The wind picked up as the two boys continued down the street. The stores and apartments eventually thinned out until it was houses with large yards, the loud noises of the busy main street faded until there was wind, the rustling of leaves, Keigo's sneakers scuffing against the ground and the dull thumping of Ichigo's boots. Ichigo enjoyed peaceful moments like this where he felt that nothing was needed of him, where he had nothing to worry about. They continued for sometime until they neared Keigo's neighborhood.

"I don't think I can help you, Ichigo." Keigo said breaking the silence. He kept his gaze away from Ichigo as the pace they set slowed.

Ichigo turned and looked at Keigo. Keigo, when he was acting like himself, was a brilliant person. When he wasn't acting like a hyped up girl obsessed teen he was pretty cool to be around. He had a different way of thinking about things which half the time seemed ridiculous if not impossible. He could have been in the top ten of the class if he stopped playing around. He had much to contribute, but here he was doubting himself.

"You're an idiot."

Keigo sighed and stopped walking, his lips were down turned as he stared down Ichigo. He became closed off as he tucked his hands into his pocket and his arms stiff at his sides. "Im serious, I have nothing to offer. I can't help you. Im not strong like Chad, I can't hack like Mizuiro and I cant fight like you and Chizuru." His voice wavered as he spoke. It was tight with an emotion that Ichigo couldn't figure out. "What can I do?" He asked desperately.

Ichigo stood there surprised, his silence seemed to answer some sort of question Keigo asked because he stormed off. Ichigo watched his retreating friend for a moment, it was clear that he was upset because it showed in the tense way he walked. Without another wasted moment Ichigo ran to catch up with the brown haired boy. When he got close enough he grabbed the teens arm and forced him to stop. Keigo wrenched his arm away from Ichigo's grip with a hiss. He backed away from Ichigo and leaned against a parked car.

Wearily Keigo looked up at the orange haired teen. "What the hell do you want Ichigo?"

"We both know what you said back there was a load of shit. You can't honestly believe that crap!"

"I do believe it because it's true. How am I going to help you when I can't do anything."

"Stop saying that!" Ichigo shouted in frustration. He paced along the sidewalk in front of Keigo, trying to find the right words.

"Look, I know whatever you guys are trying to do is important but I feel that-" Keigo abruptly cut off as Ichigo moved in front of him and grabbed the collar of his jacket.

"Just shut up Keigo." Ichigo said leaning forward in Keigo's face. "You are my friend and we want you to help, I want you to help." Ichigo took a deep breath and leaned in closer to Keigo. "This is not what I expected to hear from you. I..."

The two of them were startled by the sound of a car backfiring. Leaning back Ichigo looked away from Keigo and watched as a broken down Ford made its way down the road. Clearing his throat Ichigo shifted uneasily and began walking down the street, he slowed down a bit when Keigo caught up with him. Neither teen said anything as their shoulders brushed a long the way to Keigo's home.

When they turned the next corner they walked down the block for a while before stopping in front of an a brown house. Ichigo looked down at Keigo who was focused on the lights of the house. He was staring so intently he was let out a small gasp when the front door swung open and a woman was flung onto the ground. She may sprawled out on the concrete her stockings ripped around her thighs, short skirt ridding up and black hair mussed and tangled. Mr. Asano stood at the door and walked a few feet out to throw a shirt and bra at the woman laying on the ground.

Ichigo pulled Keigo with him as he backed away from where they were standing in the walkway.

"Get up." Mr. Asano called to the woman on the ground. His voice was scratchy from the years he spent smoking. "Get the fuck up or I'll piss on your chest."

The woman abruptly sat up and began hurling curses at the brown haired man. Hayate Asano sneered and reached forward take fisted her hair in his hand. Pulling her up to her knee's he began kissing her harshly on her lips further smearing her ruby red lipstick across her cheeks. He pushed the woman away from him a moment later causing her to fall. Her head smacked painfully on the ground and she let out a short ear piercing shriek.

"Shut up yah stupid bitch." Mr. Asano reached into his jacket and pull a few bills out and threw the money at the half naked woman.

The woman sneered as she sat up to pick the money off the ground. Her bra and shirt were put on quickly as she made to stand up. Walking over to grab her shoes from Keigo's father she took a deep inhale through her nose creating a guttural sound and spit in Mr. Asanos face. "Cheap bastard." She muttered as she grabbed the shoes and walked off.

Mr. Asano went back into the house he returned quickly with his jacket on and a bottle of beer in his hand. He walked over to the silent duo and pushed the beer into Keigo's shaking hands. Numbly Keigo twisted the cap off as he watched his father light up a blunt. Handing the bottle back to the man he took a step back. Ichigo watched the entire progression with disdain. He watched disgusted as Keigo's father swallowed down the beer, liquid rolling out the corners of his lips.

"I'll give you two a tip. Never pick the first piece of ass you see." He grumbled out."She wasn't a good lay, Coulda filled her up with ten dicks and she still woulda been loose." He took a drag of his blunt before chugging a little more of his beer. His red shot eyes glared at the two teens before him. Spitting on the ground at their feet he brushed past Ichigo and walked down the lawn to his parked car.

"Make sure the house is clean by the time I get back, the place is a fucking pig sty." He called as he pulled the car out the space.  
Ichigo watched the man drive off, years ago he had nothing but respect for that man but after the divorce with his wife he became a piece of shit. He turned towards Keigo and grabbed his hand.

"Get your stuff Keigo you're staying with me." He said pullling Keigo towards the house.

Hayate Asano was nothing like the the man he was before. He had a beautiful and kind wife who doted on her two children. A to years ago Hayate had gotten fired and turned to drinking to erase his problems. Akiko tried her her best to keep her family together but after Hayate had cheated on her a few times she reached her limit, she had fled divorce papers signed and custody given to Hayate. Keigo had never seen his mother again.

Hayate spent most of the last. years drinking and gambling. The checks he had gotten from the government the only steady income the family received. The first chance she had gotten Mizuho had fled the family house and found herself an apartment. Ichigo never understood why she didn't take Keigo with her.

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

He looked over at Keigo who lay sprawled out in his bed with Kon clutched in his arms. Standing up with a stretch Ichigo reached over and shook Keigo's arm. After reaching his house Last night Keigo had gotten a shock when Kon bust out the draw shouting. Ichigo quickly explained where Kon came from and after that the two hit it off, Ichigo left a few minutes into their perverted conversation. When Ichigo returned to the room Kon had ended Keigo were snuggled up in his bed.

After getting caught in an awkward situation by Karin Ichigo pushed Keigo off his bed and went to sleep. The next morning Isshin decided to bust into his room creating another awkward situation causing Ichigo to punch I'm out of anger now it was the afternoon and He was once again trying to wake Keigo up.

"Keigo get up." He called shaking his friends shoulder. Ichigo sighed when Keigo rolled over and snuggled deeper into the covers. Sighing again he moved back to yank the covers off of him.

"We have to go, Uruhara is expecting me in an hour." Ichigo said as he watched Keigo get up to find his bag. Ichigo flopped down on his bed while he waited for Keigo to change his clothes.

"What does he expect you to do." Keigo asked sleepily while he rummaged through his bags looking for a clean shirt.

Ichigo frowned "He didn't really say, just that I would be unlocking my abilities."

"Sounds shoddy." Ichigo hummed in agreement. The laid back man didn't give him a lot to work with and he hated being uninformed.

"You said earlier that you're father use to be a soul reaper, does he know Uruhara?" Keigo asked sliding on a new pair of jeans.

Ichigo rolled over from the position he was laying in and looked at Keigo who was now sitting at his desk. "He only spoke about Ishida Ryuuken." Ichigo got off the bed and grabbed his coat, he heard Keigo groan behind him as he went to grab his coat as well.

They managed to make it out the door without meeting anyone. The walk down to Uruhara's shop was short as they didn't want to be outside longer than needed. It was nearing five o'clock and the sun had already begun to set making it feel twice as cold as it were earlier.

Arriving at the shop he was surprised to see Ururu, the little girl who worked there, waiting for them. She led them over to the back room which had a trap door underneath a rug. She hopped down and they followed. The room was a large open space filled with sand and a few dunes. Over in one corner was a bench which Uruhara was lounging on.

"Oooooh Ichigo what a pleasure to see you, and you brought a friend." Ichigo shuddered in disgust. The man made a simple greeting feel like he was being violated in some way. Keigo's resounding scoff shared the same sentiment. Urahara was sitting across the vast room.

"Okay Ichigo's friend come sit over with me." The perverted man patted the seat next to him. Keigo gave Ichigo a look and shuddered Ichigo shrugged and waved at him. With a scowl Keigo flipped him off and walked over to Urahara and st stuffily next to him. Uruhara gave him one last leer before turning to Ichigo all joking put aside.

"Now this exercise is simple. You dodge while she tries to hit you." Ichigo looked over at Ururu who put in a pair of boxing gloves while he was distracted. She threw a pair at him that he instantly put on.

Ichigo was wary of the girl he could feel the spiritual energy swirling around her. It was gentle but very strong it threw flashes of white every few seconds it was a pattern between her tensing and relaxing for an attack.

Flash of white.

He leaped back just before the punch landed in his exact spot. Large chunks of rock were broken up sending them flying through the air. The moment he spent in awe of her strength cost him as he had to raise his arms to block a punch. The pain reverberated through his forearms and the force sent him skidding back. Catching his momentum he regained his balance he put his hand on the ground to stop his rapid movement. He dove to the side in time to dodge another ground breaking punch. He had a moment to attack her but it he couldn't she looked too innocent to hit.

He ran from her picking up speed he was unsurprised to see the girl keeping up with him. He looked back to see if she was still behind him when he didn't see her. He looked around wildly and a bright flash of white was all the warning he needed. He flipped back in time to avoid a kick to the face. He really didn't see the point of the excercise. He continued to dodge at every attack.

There was another flash but it was too quick for him to counter and he was sent sprawling across the ground spitting up blood. Pain rang throughout his ribs his chest felt tight. There was another flash an he had enough energy to roll to the side. He saw her raise her leg to stomp on his chest, rising his hands he pushed against the bottom of her foot and rolled out the way once again. Struggling to his knee's, he saw another flash but couldn't do anything he closed his eyes in resignation. There was another flash and Ichigo opened his eyes to see Ururu's fist centimeters from his face and Urahara's hand wrapped around her wrist.

"Good Job Ichigo-kun!" Urahara's gave Ichigo a thumbs up and a cheesy smile and let Ururu's wrist go

.  
"Thank you Uru-chan, You can go back to the shop now." He gave Ururu a smile and she blushed bowing to them she quickly scampered to the latter and climbed up and through the trap door.

"Now that, that is finished how about a little chat." Urahara tilted his head to where Keigo was sitting.

Groaning Ichigo shakily got up and stumbled over to the bench, once there he flopped onto the seat next to Keigo and slumped to the side.

"You've been dodging Ururu for almost an hour." Keigo said as he handed Ichigo a bottle of water Urahara gave him.

"Thanks." Ichigo muttered siting up, a few moments later he had his breathe under control and he waiting for the perverted shopkeeper to begin speaking.

"As you know, the powers that you have a running of of Rukia's spiritual power. They are weak as they are now and will get much stronger when you unlock your own spiritual power." Urahara fished a fold up fan from inside the sleeves of his shirt as he began fanning himself.

"How will I do that?" Ichigo asked.

"Well there is a way." Urahara his his smile behind his fan and gave Ichigo a shifty look.

"And?" Ichigo prompted.

"It is a way to gain shikai, a first release, to your zanpaktou. The sword you use now is just in its sealed state. When a command and the name of your sword is said it can be released into it's Shikai."

"Zanpakutou's have names?" Keigo asked.

"Yes. Zanpakutous are made from a soul reapers soul. They become their own being once a soul reapers learns their name."

"How early can a Zanpakutou be heard?" Ichigo remembered a voice. It was from _that time_ when everything was hectic and strange.

"It isn't heard until a person goes to their spirit world to unlock their powers." Urahara narrowed his eyes at the orange haired teen.

"How does this technique work?" Urahara smirked at Ichigo's question. A small smile formed on his face as he his it behind his fan.

"You have a limit of three days to obtain shikai with this technique if you fail you will die"

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

The weekend end passed quickly without anymore incidences. Ichigo was getting ready for school while Keigo was taking a shower. The teen would be returning to his house that afternoon to make an appearance from there he would be going to stay with his sister. Mizuho had been surprised at the request but had no problems agreeing.

"You know you have a bunch of girly products." Keigo said as he walked into the room drying his hair.

"I would rather smell like a girl than a sweaty animal." Ichigo sneered.

"What!" Keigo screamed outraged. He nearly fell over as he was trying to pull up his pants.

"Egyptian Musk is a great scent. I'll have you know girls are always smelling me." he said indignantly.

Ichigo stood and grabbed his bag. "They do that to find out where the scent of shit is coming from." He said as he began walking down the stairs. The answering thud brought a small smile to his face.

In the kitchen he was greeted by the sight of Yuzu expertly chopping carrots. She really was a great cook and the smell coming from the kitchen made his stomach growl.

"Good morning Ichigo." Yuzu greeted cheerfully.

"Morning." He responded while digging in the fridge for a bottle of water. He walked out of the kitchen and took a seat at the dining table where Karin was already seated reading a soccer magazine.

"Morning." He greeted. He received a grunt in response.

A few moments passed in silence as he waited for Keigo to come down. When he finally did make it he had Kon under his arm. Ichigo raised an eyebrow in question but Keigo just shook his head. He went into the kitchen to greet Yuzu and came back with two breakfast bars, throwing one to Ichigo he greeted Karin and received the same response as Ichigo.

"Ready to go?" Keigo asked as he threw his wrapper into the trash.

"Yeah." Ichigo stood from the table and walked to the foyer he pulled on his shoes and held the door as he waited for Keigo to get his sneakers on.  
"Why'd you bring Kon?" Ichigo asked once they were out the door.

"He was nagging about wanting to see Chizuru." Keigo answered with a shrug. They continued to walk for a few minustes in silence, the sound of cars and people getting to work served ad background noise.

"Kurosaki-Kun, Keigo!"

Ichigo frowned when he heard the shout. Coming to a halt both teens turned to see Inoue running up to them.

"Orihime! It great to see you!" Keigo shouted preparing to hug her. Before he could grip her Tatsuki appeared and slammed her hand into his face.

"Ahhh!" Keigo shouted dramatically falling to the ground. Ichigo scowled at the scene and picked up an annoyed Kon from the ground. He was saved from the stuffed lion yelling because he knew not to talk in front of other people.

"Not today. you creep." Tatsuki continued to block Keigo from reaching Inoue, who laughed at the two.

"Ichigo who is that voluptuous angel." Ichigo looked down at Kon who was staring obsessively at Inoues large chest.

"Inoue-san is a classmate, in front of her is Tatsuki." Ichigo was contemplating leaving all of them when a body slammed into his back.

"Guess who!" a voice called out cheerfully.

"Ther Devil?" Ichigo deadpanned.

He received a slap in the back of the head in response. Rukia moved from behind him and sauntered over to greet the others.

"Oh Kuchiki-San you left earlier than I expected." Inoue turned to Rukia and looked her over.

"Don't worry Orihime I had to pick up something from the store, didn't you get my note?" Rukia answered waving her worry off.

Realization dawned on Ichigo when he figured out that Rukia had been staying with Inoue. Ichigo scowled deeply as he checked the time if they didn't hurry they would be late. Ichigo turned around to leave them behind when he bumped into a chest.

"Are you okay?" A deep rumbling voice asked him as he steadied himself.

"Fine." He answered Chad, he took a step Back and saw Mizuiro texting away and Chizuru catching up to them. When they caught up after another round of greetings, Ichigo tossed Kon to Chizuru who nearly dropped him in surprise and stalked off.

"Wht the hell is wrong with him?" Rukia asked alarmed.

It was quiet for a moment before Mizuiro answered the question.

"It's a Monday." The round of laughter that followed cause Ichigo to quicken his steps.

The day passed quickly once they were in the school building. Keigo had already left to go to his sisters house and Ichigo was in his way to meet Ryuken at a cafe. He had called his teacher so they could meet up and discuss what could be done about unlocking his true powers. When ichigo arrived at the cafe a block from the hospital he wasn't suprised to see Ryuken step out of a limousine and head towards the cafe.

Ichigo walked into the cafe behind Ryuken, the place was large yet had a cozy feeling to it. It was decorated in wood paneling that gave it a homey feel. There were tables with large comfortable looking chairs decorating the lounge area of the cafe. Two of the walk in that area were completely made of glass. There was music playing in the background which seemed to be mostly jazz from what Ichigo could tell.

Receiving a look from Ryuken Ichigo picked up the pace and followed him deeper in the cafe, they walked down a long hallway before coming to a stop at an reserved area. There were booths instead of chairs and to one side of the room there was an large fireplace with a toasty fire crackling it chased the leftover chill from Ichigo's bones.

The waitress led Ichigo and Ryuken to their area an quickly left once she received an icy look from the man. Sliding in to the booth ichigo was acutely aware that he was being scrutinized by the man seated across from him.

"I would advise you not to do it. Yes, you will be able to obtain shikai faster but you will not reach your full capabilities."

Ryuken leaned back in his chair and brought his cup up to his lips to take a sip of his tea. Ichigo let the sounds of the cafe wash over him as he thought. He had only two choices, he could either train with Ryuken and reach shikai naturally or he could train with Urahara and gain shikai faster but wouldn't reach his full potential. If he did it the first way he wouldn't have a limitation on him but he didn't know how long it would take. If he did it Urahara's way he could die if he didn't reach it within the time limit.

"How long would it take naturally?" Ichigo focused back on the doctor and waited for his answer.

"Your soul is still attached to your body." He answered simply.

Ichigo nodded, he understood where he was hinting at. He wasn't a soul like Uruhara his methods we're not garuntee to work in him. When Urahara had gained shikai by the same method he had already been dead. His spiritual body had been able to soak up ambient spiritual power. With Ichigo soul still attached to his human body the method would not work the same becaus it absurd his spiritual power and the drain would work against him.

"I would have to learn to gather ambient reishi to add to my own it would counteract the drain." Ichigo ran his hand through his hair, he didn't like where his train of thought was taking him.

Gathering reishi is an ability that Quincies use and could not be mixed with an Shinigami technique because of the opposing uses of reishi. It wouldn't be possible for him to gather reishi from inside of his body while pulling reishi outside of his body.

Looking up he caught a gleam in the Ryuken's eye. It didn't matter what he wanted there was only one thing he could choose.

The meeting inside of the cafe had taken up the rest of Ichiho's afternoon. Once dismissed by Ryuken Ichigo headed out of the cafe and began Ichigo walking down the street. The fading light of the afternoon sun dimmed the sparse trees and cast shadows around him. The crunching of leaves and the howling of wind were the only sounds in the immediate area. A tinge of grey and Ichigo stopped walking. He didn't turn around the grey was calm.

"You really don't know what you're getting into."

Ichigo shrugged and began to walk away. Footsteps echoed beside him but he didn't glance once at his companion. He scowled when a the man beside him began to whistle.

"You don't know what you're doing!" The man singsonged.

"What's going on then?" Ichigo growled out coming to a halt.

A displacement of air, a spike of grey, and a body was draped against his back.

"That would be telling." Kugo said, he moved from Ichigo's back so he could stand next to teen while he kept one arm on his shoulder. He began to walk and Ichigo was forced to move along with him. Ichigo scowled as he walked down the street with the black haired man. He remembered their last meeting and couldn't help but feel confused. He knew that Kugo was not a soul reaper or a quincy. Yet his color left the impression that he was more like the former.

"What did you mean?" Ichigo asked coming to a halt one again stopping the other man from moving.

"Hmmm?" He was beginning to become agitated with them man.

"The last time we met, you asked me what happened to the fire I possessd. What did you mean?" The word were growled out and Ichigo remained tense. Kugo stood under the street lamp with his hands in his pocket. He rocked back and forth on his heels.

"You fought a hollow and I saw." he answered simply ceasing his rocking.

"I figured as much. I want to know why you sought me out." Ichigo said over his shoulder as he continued to walk. He heard Kugo skip up to his side and keep pace with him.

"You had a drive that I liked and I wanted to fight you but you hardly fought back." Ichigo grit his teeth in annoyance at the disappointment that laced Kugo's tone.

"That doesn't matter now, I was quick to judge. Your not what I thought you were." Kugo voice turned a bit tight at the end and ichigo raised an eyebrow in question.

"And what did you think I was?" Ichigo asked aloud.

"Like me." A flash a grey and then nothing.

Ichigo sighed I'm frustration but picked up his speed. With Kugo's sudden disappearance many questions formed in his mind. Whatever Kugo was involved with it had to with the soul reapers.

Everything he had learned so far pointed to something big happening with the soul reapers.

*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*

Chapter 6 End

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Thanks for reading! Any errors? Let me Know.

As Always, any questions, comments, or concerns feel free to review or PM me.


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